Editing CQD

{{short description|Morse code distress call in the early 20th century}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{listen |filename=CQD.ogg |title=CQD in Morse code |format=[[Ogg]]}}
'''CQD''' (transmitted in [[Morse code]] as {{morse|noindent=yes|dash|dot|dash|dot}}{{morse|dash|dash|dot|dash}}{{morse|dash|dot|dot}}) is one of the first [[distress signal]]s adopted for [[radio]] use. On 7&nbsp;January 1904 the [[Marconi Company|Marconi International Marine Communication Company]] issued "Circular&nbsp;57", which specified that, for the company's installations, beginning 1&nbsp;February 1904 "the call to be given by ships in distress or in any way requiring assistance shall be 'C&nbsp;Q&nbsp;D'&nbsp;".<ref name="CQD">{{cite book |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015064554713&view=1up&seq=368 |chapter=Distress Signalling |first=G.E. |last=Turnbull |title=The Year-book of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony |year=1913 |pages=318–322 |access-date=21 August 2019 |archive-date=5 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105080658/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015064554713&view=1up&seq=368 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Background==
Landline and submarine telegraphers' [[telegraph]]s had adopted the convention of using the station code "[[CQ (call)|CQ]]" to all stations along a telegraph line. As the first wireless operators were taken from the already trained landline telegraphers, the current practices carried forward and CQ had then been adopted in maritime radiotelegraphy as a "general call" to any ship or land station.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015076479271&view=1up&seq=725 |title=Stranger Than Fiction |author=E. Blake |journal=Wireless World |date=January 1916 |pages=689–693 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015076479271}}</ref>

The Marconi company added a "D" ("distress") to CQ in order to create a distress call. Thus, "CQD" was understood by wireless operators to mean ''All stations: Distress''.{{efn|Contrary to popular belief, CQD does not stand for "Come Quick, Danger", "Come Quickly: Distress", "Come Quick – Drowning!", or "C&nbsp;Q Danger" ("Seek You, Danger"); these are [[backronym]]s.<ref name=Campbell2008/>{{rp|page=218}} }} Although used worldwide by Marconi operators, CQD was never adopted as an international standard, since it can easily be mistaken for a mere general call "CQ" when reception is poor.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t12n52m8w&view=1up&seq=372 |title=Steamship Conquest of the World |author= Frederick A. Talbot |series=Conquests of science |year=1912 |page=280|publisher=J. B. Lippincott company }}</ref>

==Replacement==
At the first International Radiotelegraphic Convention, held in Berlin in 1906, Germany's ''{{lang|de|Notzeichen}}'' distress signal of three-dots three-dashes three-dots ({{morse|dot|dot|dot|dash|dash|dash|dot|dot|dot}}) was adopted as the international Morse code distress signal.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t80k29264&view=1up&seq=42 |article=Service Regulation XVI |title=1906 International Wireless Telegraph Convention |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=38 |access-date=5 January 2021 |archive-date=5 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105080721/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark%3A%2F13960%2Ft80k29264&view=1up&seq=42 |url-status=live }}</ref>

This signal soon became known as [[SOS]] because it has the same dash-dot sequence as the letters with the gaps between them removed, and in fact is properly written {{overline|SOS}}, with an overbar, to distinguish it from the three individual letters{{Citation needed|reason=We need an authoritative source for the claim of "properly written"|date=January 2025}}. In contrast, CQD is transmitted as three distinct letters with a short gap between each, like regular text. SOS is also easier to hear as it is nine&nbsp;symbols long, while no other character or sign is longer than six&nbsp;symbols. Germany had first adopted SOS in regulations effective 1&nbsp;April 1905.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015084596132&view=1up&seq=457 |title=Regelung der Funkentelegraphie im Deutschen Reich |journal=Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift |date=27 April 1905 |pages=413–414 |access-date=21 August 2019 |archive-date=5 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105080722/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015084596132&view=1up&seq=445 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101050973294&view=1up&seq=118 |title=German Regulations for the Control of Spark Telegraphy |journal=The Electrician |date=5 May 1905 |pages=94–95 |access-date=21 August 2019 |archive-date=5 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105080700/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101050973294&view=1up&seq=116 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==History of wireless distress rescues==
From 1899 to 1908, nine documented rescues were made by the use of wireless. The earliest of these was a distress call from the ''East Goodwin'' [[lightvessel|lightship]]. However, for the earliest of these, there was no standardized distress signal. The first US ship to send a wireless distress call in 1905 simply sent HELP (in both International Morse and [[American Morse code]]).<ref name=Campbell2008/>{{rp|page=218}}

On 7 December 1903, Ludwig Arnson was a wireless operator aboard the liner {{SS|Kroonland}} when the ship lost a propeller off the Irish coast.  His call of CQD brought aid from a British cruiser. In 1944 Arnson received the Marconi Memorial Medal of Achievement in recognition of his sending the first wireless distress signal.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1958/04/13/issue.html |title=Ludwig Arnson |department=obituary |newspaper=New York Times |date=13 April 1958 |at=page 83, column 6 |via=Times Machine |accessdate=January 7, 2021}}</ref> By February&nbsp;1904, the Marconi Wireless Company required all its operators to use CQD for a ship in distress or for requiring URGENT assistance.<ref name="CQD"/>  In the early morning of 23&nbsp;January 1909, whilst sailing into New York from Liverpool, {{RMS|Republic|1903|6}} collided with the Italian liner SS ''Florida'' in fog off the [[Massachusetts]] island of [[Nantucket]].  Radio Operator Jack Binns sent the CQD distress signal by [[wireless]] transmission.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112008071869&view=1up&seq=515 |title={{nowrap|C Q D}}|first=Alfred M. |last=Caddell |magazine=Radio Broadcast |date=April 1924 |pages=449–455}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jackbinns.org |title=Jack Binns: Hero |website=JackBinns.org |access-date=25 October 2009 |archive-date=5 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105080724/http://www.jackbinns.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 15&nbsp;April 1912, {{RMS|Titanic}} radio operator [[Jack Phillips (wireless operator)|Jack Phillips]] initially sent "CQD", which was still commonly used by British ships. [[Harold Bride]], the junior radio operator, suggested using {{overline|SOS}}, saying half-jokingly that it might be his last chance to use the new code. Phillips thereafter began to alternate between the two.<ref name=Campbell2008/>{{rp|page=1911}}  Although Bride survived, Phillips perished in the sinking.<ref>{{cite news |title=Thrilling story by Titanic's surviving wireless man |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1912/04/19/archives/thrilling-story-by-titanics-surviving-wireless-man-bride-tells-how.html |date=19 April 1912 |access-date=29 September 2018 |archive-date=5 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105080657/https://www.nytimes.com/1912/04/19/archives/thrilling-story-by-titanics-surviving-wireless-man-bride-tells-how.html |url-status=live |last1=Bride |first1=Harold }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[500 kHz]] (Morse distress frequency)
* [[2182 kHz]] (voice distress frequency)
* [[Global Maritime Distress and Safety System]]
* [[Mayday]]
* [[Prosigns for Morse code]]

==Footnotes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name=Campbell2008>{{cite book |first=Ballard C. |last=Campbell |title=Disasters, Accidents, and Crises in American History |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2008 |isbn=978-1438130125
}}</ref>
}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book | last=Dubreuil | first=Stephan | title=Come quick, danger : a history of marine radio in Canada | publisher=Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Coast Guard | publication-place=Ottawa | year=1998 | isbn=978-0-660-17490-7 | oclc=39748172}}
* {{cite book | last=Caesar | first=Pete | title=SOS ... CQD : four ships in trouble | publisher=Marine Press | publication-place=Muskegon, Mich. | year=1977 | oclc=3182026}}

{{Morse code}}

[[Category:Telecommunications-related introductions in 1904]]
[[Category:Amateur radio history]]
[[Category:Emergency communication]]
[[Category:History of telecommunications]]
[[Category:Morse code]]
[[Category:Rescue]]