As SOS celebrates its Centenary can it survive as a viable distress signal?
On 1 July it will be the Centenary anniversary of when SOS became the worldwide signal for ships in distress.
Over the years SOS has had many acronyms linked to it, from Save Our Souls to Save Our Ship but the truth is it doesn’t stand for anything, it is simply the commonly used description for the International Morse code.
Modern technology has since brought us many alternative ways of signalling distress from VHF to emergency beacons to mobile phones so can SOS survive in the 21st Century? Humberside watch manager Andrew Mahood doesn’t think so,
“The days of Morse have long gone ” he told the BBC.
What do you think? Has SOS had its day or is it still a relevant and important part of our maritime communication?
