‘S.O.S.’ SIGNAL.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 24 January 1917, Page 3

‘S.O.S.’ SIGNAL.

Some curiosity has been expressed re j the meaning of the letters "5.0.5.,” j which go to make up the wireless call i for ships in distress. In commenting upon the part played by wireless in th c j sinking of the Lusitania, the Wireless I World of June, 1915, a magazine pub- j lished in London by the Marconi Com- I pany, says: —"The famous ‘S.O.S. signal was chosen without regard to any i significance which might be attached I to the individual ‘S.O.S. ’ The three i dots which constitute thc distress call | are not transmitted ag indicating the I initial letters of any dramatic sentence I (such ag ‘Save Our Souls,’ ‘Send Our! Succour,’ etc.), but simply make up a I rhythmic call which is distinctive from \ other .signals |>ent in wireless j graphy. ” The same article concludes thus:—‘‘Although the great liner now lies beneath the waves, her engines stilled for ever, her dynamos at rest, and her wireless apparatus out of action she gtill continues to send her message to the world. ‘S.O.S.’ may not inaptly | be interpreted ‘Send Out Soldiers,’ j soldiers of righteousness, to crush the ' infamous Huns whose foul deeds cry j aloud for vengeance.” j i