116 years ago today, on June 10, 1909 (April 23, 1909 in the lunar calendar), British ships first used SOS distress signals. Ships sailing in the vast ocean, and accidents often occur due to dense fog, storms, icebergs, reefs, machine failure, collisions with other ships, etc. When death approaches people, the "SOS" distress signal flies into the sea and sea and is transmitted in all directions. As soon as they received the distress signal, nearby ships rushed to the accident site to rescue the victims. Many people think that "SOS" is the abbreviation of three English words. But which three English words are they? Some people think it means "Save OurSouls"; some people interpret it as "Save OurShip"; some people speculate that it means "SendOurSucour"; others interpret it as "SuvingOfSoul"... There are really different opinions. In fact, the original framers of "SOS" did not have these meanings. Another expression method for SOS is 191519. 19, 15 and 19 are the order of S, O and S in the 26 English letters respectively. The reason is that the SOS distress signal is widely known. When in extremely passive situations, SOS will expose the victim's distress information, so 191519 is another obscure symbol for transmitting and expressing distress messages. Things go back to the early 20th century. In 1903, the first International Wireless Telegraph Conference was held in Berlin, with eight major maritime countries participating in the conference. Taking into account the rapid development of the maritime industry and the increasing number of maritime accidents, the meeting proposed to determine special ship distress radio signals. Some people suggested using "SSSDDD" consisting of three "S" and three "D" letters as a distress signal, but the meeting made no formal decision on this. Shortly after the meeting, the British Marconi Radio Company announced that it would use "CQD" as a ship distress signal. In fact, this was just adding the letter "D" to the general call sign "CQ" of European railway radio communications at that time. Seafarers interpret "CQD" as "Comequick, danger". Because the "CQD" signal is only used on ships equipped with Marconi's radio equipment, this signal still cannot be counted as an internationally unified distress signal. Moreover, there is only one word difference between "CQD" and the general call sign "CQ", which is easy to confuse. In 1906, the Second International Radio Conference was held in Berlin. The meeting decided to replace "CQD" with a clearer and more accurate signal. The representative of the United States proposed using the abbreviation "NC" for the international two-flag signal as a distress signal. This plan was not adopted. An expert representing Germany's Slyabi-Arco Wireless suggested using "SOE" as a distress signal. During the discussion, it was pointed out that this signal has a major shortcoming: the letter "E" is a dot in Morse code, that is, the entire signal "SOE" is "... --...", which is easy to be misunderstood or even completely incomprehensible when it is transmitted and received from a long distance. Although this plan has not yet been adopted, it has opened up ideas for participants. Then, someone proposed replacing the "E" in "SOE" with another "S", which would become "SOS". In Morse code,"SOS" is "... --..." It is short, accurate, continuous and rhythmic, easy to pat and read, and easy to understand. While declaring "SOS" an internationally unified distress signal, other signals were abolished, including the "CQD" commonly used at the time. But "SOS" was not immediately used, and telegraph operators still preferred "CQD" because most of them used to work on the railway system and were accustomed to using "CQD". In August 1909, the American ship "Arap Howie" issued an "SOS" signal to adjacent coasts and passing ships due to a ruptured stern shaft and was unable to sail. This is the first time this signal has been used. It was not until after the sinking of the Titanic in April 1912 that "SOS" became widely used. There is also the most important reason. The three letters SOS are SOS whether viewed from above or upside down. When a shipwreck occurs and a large "SOS" needs to be placed on an isolated island waiting for rescue, passing overhead can be recognized immediately no matter which direction it flies from. In fact, S.O.S. is an international Morse code rescue signal and is not an abbreviation for any word. In view of the frequent occurrence of shipwrecks at that time, often due to the inability to send out distress signals in time and organize rescue as quickly as possible, great casualties and property losses were caused. The International Convention for Wireless Telegrams officially identified it as an international common distress distress signal in 1908. These three letter combinations have no practical meaning, just because its code... --... (Three dots, three dashes, and then three more dots) In a telegram, it is the code that is easiest for the sending party to send and the receiving party to recognize. Before 1908, the international high seas distress signal was C.Q.D. The three letters also have no practical meaning, although many people think it is Come Quickly, Danger. (Come quickly, danger!) acronym of. Although the 1908 International Convention on Radiotelegraphy has clearly stipulated the use of S.O.S. as a distress signal at sea, C.Q.D. is still used. In the early days of the Titanic disaster, the reason why other ships and rescue organizations failed to organize rescue operations in time was mainly because they did not understand the outdated C.Q.D. distress signals that the ship's transmitter began to send out. The S.O.S. distress signal was not sent until the entire ship was almost submerged into the sea, but at this time, who could have such a willingness to return to the sky and save those innocent souls who were about to be buried at the bottom of the sea forever?