Mayday Calls

WHAT IS MADAY

Mayday is a distress call used in an emergency.  This indicates that a life or lives are in danger.  It is in use internationally in the Marine world and done so via radio communications.  A grave and imminent threat requiring immediate assistance constitutes a Mayday Call

A PROPER MAYDAY CALL

Please click here for a Mayday Template. 

HISTORY OF MAYDAY

The “mayday” procedure word was conceived as a distress call in the early 1920s by Frederick Stanley Mockford.  He was an officer-in-charge of radio at Croydon Airport, England. He had been asked to think of a word that would indicate distress.  The word had to easily be understood by all pilots and ground staff in an emergency.  He proposed the term “mayday”.  The phonetic equivalent of the French m’aidez (“help me”) or m’aider (a short form of venez m’aider, “come [and] help me”.

ALTERNATIVES TO A MAYDAY CALL

When a radio is not available, there are a variety of other distress signals and calls for help . This is why it is so important to carry visual distress signals.  A mayday relay is when a vessel sends a mayday call on behalf of another.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Making a false distress call is a criminal offense in many countries, punishable by a fine, restitution, and possible imprisonment.

SECURITE’ AND PAN PAN

Securite’ means an informational broadcast.  This is regarding navigational concerns. IE “A Large Tree Trunk spotted just west of Buoy 28 in Bridgeport”

Pan-Pan is a nonlife-threatening urgency call IE. “Nav Equipment is down we are navigating in the blind, Needs Towing, Tangled with a lobster pot line, medical advice”.  There are some cases again, non-life threatening, where there is a call for “medical evacuation”.

SIDE NOTES:

Silencing:  All vessels must halt communications until the Mayday is resolved.  Unless there is another Mayday call.

Poise:  Stay poised.  Gather information and present it as clear and concise as you can.  Screaming chaotically does not help the situation.

Composed:  Stay composed.  Lives are above all the most important factor.

CONCLUSION

No one wants to be involved in a Mayday call.  It should be part of a mariner’s repertoire to practice a Mayday call.  DO NOT DO THIS LIVE ON THE RADIO.   Fill out our Mayday template as best as you can once you are on your vessel.  This will help guide you through the call.  Be safe out there!