SOS is the international Morse code distress signal (three dots, three dashes, and three dots, all run together without letter spacing).
The SOS distress signal was first adopted by the German government radio regulations effective April 1, 1905. It became the worldwide standard under the second International Radiotelegraphic Convention, which became effective on July 1, 1908.
The SOS distress signal was used for first time on June 10, 1909, when the Cunard liner SS Slavonia was wrecked off the Azores.
The SOS letters are simply a convenient and distinctive combination and are not an acronym, although they have been popularly held to stand for such phrases as "Save Our Ship," "Save Our Souls" or "Send Out Succour".
So why was SOS chosen to signify a distress signal? This was explained in the 1918 Marconi Yearbook of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony: “This signal [SOS] was adopted simply on account of its easy radiation and its unmistakable character. There is no special significance in the letters themselves…”
SOS is often written inaccurately as “S.O.S.” As“SOS” isn’t an acronym for anything, it is incorrect to put full stops between each letter.
In 1917 San Franciscoaluminium pot salesman Ed Cox, invented a pre-soaped pad with which to clean pots. As a way of introducing himself to potential new customers, Cox made the soap incrusted steel-wool pads as a calling card. These pads quickly became more popular than his pots and pans, so he gave up selling pots and concentrated on manufacturing the cleaning product. They still did not have a name until his wife came up with a solution. She had called them S.O.S pads in her kitchen, meaning "Save Our Saucepans."
SOS messages have been found stitched in Primark clothing, allegedly from employees complaining of "sweatshop conditions" and being "worked like oxen" over 15 hour shifts.
S.O.S. by ABBA is the only Top 20 hit in history in which the title of the song and the name of the artist are both palindromes - they spell the same thing forward and backward.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria, built around 280 BC, was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Damaged by earthquakes in 956 and 1303 it was abandoned after another earthquake in 1323.
The world's oldest existing lighthouse is Spain's Tower of Hercules, erected in the first century and still operational.
The Eddystone Rocks were a major shipwreck hazard for mariners sailing through the English Channel. The first lighthouse built there was an octagonal wooden structure, anchored by twelve iron stanchions secured in the rock, and was built by Henry Winstanley in the late 17th century. The light was lit on November 14, 1698. Winstanley's lighthouse was the first tower in the world to have been fully exposed to the open sea.
While supervising work on the Eddystone Rocks in 1697, Winstanley was seized by a French privateer during the War of the League of Augsburg/War of the Grand Alliance. When Louis XIV learned Winstanley was building a lighthouse to protect all shipping, he ordered his release with the sentiment that France was at war with England, not with all humanity.
Winstanley returned to complete and later enlarge the lighthouse, and he was inside it on December 8, 1703 when the Great Storm destroyed the structure, killing him and the keepers.
Winstanley's lighthouse, as modified in 1699
The cost of construction and five years' maintenance of the first Eddystone Lighthouse totaled £7,814 7s.6d, during which time dues totaling £4,721 19s.3d had been collected at one penny per ton from passing vessels.
A second Eddystone Lighthouse was completed in 1709. This proved more durable, surviving nearly fifty years. However, on the night of December 2, 1755, the top of the lantern caught fire, probably through a spark from one of the candles used to illuminate the light and the tower burnt down.
Drawing of the second Eddystone Lighthouse,
The civil engineer, John Smeaton, rebuilt the lighthouse in 1759. His tower represented a major step forward in the design of lighthouses and remained in use until 1877.
The first lighthouse in America was authorized for construction by the Massachusetts legislature at Little Brewster Island, to mark the entrance to Boston, Massachusetts, harbor on July 23, 1715. The Boston Light was ready for use by mid-September of the following year. It has guided ships since then.
A tonnage tax of 1 penny per ton charged to vessels moving in or out of Boston Harbor, paid for maintaining the light.
1729 illustration of Boston Light
The first keeper of Boston Light was George Worthylake. He was paid £50 a year to keep the beacon lit from sundown to sunrise. Worthylake drowned, along with his wife and daughter, when returning to the island in 1718.
The stone structure weathered 60 years of lightning strikes and gale-force winds before the British Army blew up the tower and completely destroyed it during the American Revolutionary War.
The current lighthouse dates from 1783, is the second oldest working lighthouse in the United States (after Sandy Hook Lighthouse in New Jersey)
The number of men working in a lighthouse in the UK was increased from 2 to 3 following a gruesome incident in 1801 at the Smalls Lighthouse 20 miles (32 km) west of Marloes Peninsula in Pembrokeshire, Wales. One half of a duo, Thomas Griffith, died in a freak accident, and the other, Thomas Howell, placed him outside in a makeshift coffin. Stiff winds blew the box apart and Howell was driven mad by the wind causing his dead colleague's arm appear to be beckoning him.
The Bell Rock lighthouse off the east coast of Scotland is reputedly the oldest offshore lighthouse in the world. So expertly was it built that no structural changes have been made since it was built in 1811.
A lighthouse 346 ft above sea level was built in 1831 by Robert Stevenson, the grandfather of Treasure islandauthor Robert Louis Stevenson, on Dunnet Head, Caithness, the most northerly point on British mainland.
Smeaton's Eddystone Lighthouse
A female heroine was created on September 7, 1838, when lighthouse keeper’s daughter Grace Darling rowed out to sea and saved nine people from a shipwreck on the Farne Islands, off the coast of Northumberland, NE England.
The current Cape Lookout, North Carolina, lighthouse was lit for the first time on November 1, 1859. The lighthouse was built with a double wall structure, which made it much stronger than previous lighthouses. It was also equipped with a first-order Fresnel lens, which was the most powerful type of lens available at the time. The lens could be seen for about 19 miles (31 km) in good weather.
The Cape Lookout lighthouse played an important role in guiding ships safely along the Outer Banks, a treacherous stretch of coastline known for its shoals and storms.
The keeper of the Christiana Light was 105 when he died in 1862, the oldest known lighthouse keeper in United States history.
In 1881 an ice floe forced the Sharp's Island Lighthouse off its foundations, after which it floated nearly five miles down the Chesapeake—with its keepers still inside—until it ran aground, allowing the men to escape unharmed.
During the 1883 Krakatoa eruptions and resulting tsunamis, a Javanese lighthouse keeper refused to leave his post, survived after the lighthouse collapsed, lost his wife and child, and built a makeshift light just a few hours afterward so that ships wouldn't run aground.
On October 22, 1707, a British fleet, under the command of Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell, was returning from a successful campaign in the Mediterranean during the War of Spanish Succession. Due to navigational errors and poor weather conditions, four Royal Navy ships, including Shovell's flagship, the HMS Association, ran aground on the rocks of the Scilly Isles off the southwestern coast of England.
The disaster resulted in the loss of all four ships and more than 1,500 sailors, including Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell. The Bishop Rock Lighthouse, which might have averted the disaster, was finally completed in 1858 and was first lit on September 1, that year.
18th-century engraving of the disaster
Bishop Rock is the world’s smallest island with a building on it. Since 1976 it has even had a helipad at the top of the lighthouse.
Bishop Rock Lighthouse (2005) By Richard Knights, CC BY-SA 2.0, $3
From 1886 to 1902 the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor was officially a lighthouse. An electric light in its torch was visible for 24 miles.
On December 26, 1900 three lighthouse keepers mysteriously disappeared from the lighthouse on Eilian Mor, one of the Flannan Isles in the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland. Their logbook indicated they were frightened by a storm that hit on that day, but all other reports in the area stated the weather was clear on December 12th.
The mystery of the Flannan Isles Lighthouse disappearance remains one of the most intriguing maritime enigmas in history. It has inspired poems, books, and films, including the 2018 psychological thriller The Vanishing. A rogue wave is the most plausible explanation, but the lack of definitive evidence keeps the mystery alive.
Leasowe Lighthouse was built in 1763 by The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company to guide shipping safely to the Port of Liverpool and is the oldest lighthouse built from bricks in the United Kingdom. The lighthouse was closed in 1908 and its last keeper was a Mrs. Williams, the only known female lighthouse keeper of the period.
In 1912 Gustaf Dalen won a Nobel Prize for an invention making unmanned lighthouses possible. Despite being blinded in an accident in 1912 Dalen went on to invent the Aga cooker.
Finland's Lågskär island lighthouse was constructed in 1920. It introduced a rotating gas lighting device, which was the first of its kind in the world.
Lågskär Lighthouse and outbuildings (2009). By Islander - Own work, CC BY 3.0, $3
FUN LIGHTHOUSE FACTS
Russia has hundreds of nuclear powered lighthouses and beacons along the Northern Shipping Route.
The first boat specialized as a lifeboat was built by Henry Greathead. It was first tested on the River Tyne in North East England on January 29, 1790. The boat was made of wood, tin and cork and could still work when filled with water. It entered service in 1790 and another 31 of the same design were constructed. Greathead never took out a patent on his invention, and was always willing to share his plans with others for the public good.
Launching the lifeboat at Brighton, Sussex in 1875
The United States Life Saving Service (USLSS) was established in 1848. This was a United States government agency that grew out of private and local humanitarian efforts to save the lives of shipwrecked mariners and passengers. In 1915 the USLSS merged with the Revenue Cutter Service to form the United States Coast Guard (USCG).
English shipwright James Beeching invented a self-righting lifeboat in 1851, which became the standard model for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's new fleet.
The United States Life Saving Service began using motorized lifeboats in 1899. Models derived from this hull design remained in use until 1987.
Thirteen crew members and five apprentices were rescued from the stricken schooner Forest Hall by the Lynmouth Louisa Lifeboat on January 12, 1899 when the former foundered off the coast of Devon, England. Because of the severe gale that was blowing at the time, the lifeboat had to be hauled 15 miles (24 km) across Exmoor before it could be safely launched.
The Titanic was capable of carrying 64 lifeboats, but the number was reduced to just 20 so the ship would look less ‘cluttered’.
The life boat drill planned for the day before the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, was cancelled.
Titanic's recovered lifeboats
A priest on the Titanic refused a lifeboat and instead, stayed behind to hear confessions and give absolution to those on the ship.
Until motorised boats came into use, lifeboats were launched into the water by horses.
Pliny the Younger’s request to form a fire brigade of 150 men was denied by the Emperor Trajan.
Marcus Crassus the creator of the first Roman fire brigade, employed 500 slaves. At the first cry of help, Crassus offered to buy the building for cheap. The fire fighters did nothing while a price was negotiated. Failing to reach a deal, the structure was allowed to burn to the ground after which an offer was made to purchase it for a fraction of its value and then Crassius rebuilt it with slave labour. He is often called "The richest man in Rome".
St Florian was the first known commander of one firefighting squad in the Roman Empire. He lost his life, as well as those of his colleagues, for protecting the same humane ideas which firefighters all over the world share even today. ). He is the patron saint of firefighters.
Early firefighters weren't paid with cash, instead they first grabbed all valuable items out of the victims house or business, then would sell those items or keep them for themselves.
The first volunteer fire department was established in New York by Peter Stuyvesant in 1648.
Damaged caused by the Great Fire of London of 1666, which destroyed more than 13,000 houses, led to insurance companies creating the first fire brigades. The known London fire brigade comprising six uniformed men was founded in 1699 by an insurance firm at Tom’s Coffee House in St Martin’s Lane, Covent Garden.
At the time the crews would all rush to a burning house, but only put out the flames if the correct ‘fire mark’ on the outside wall proved the homeowner had paid that particular company his insurance premium.
Before municipal fire services came to fruition, metal plaques marked with the emblem of a fire insurance company were affixed to the front of insured buildings as a guide to the company's fire brigade. The first to use the mark was the Sun Fire Office which was established in 1710.
On September 19, 1738, the Common Council appointed for the first time thirty "Strong, Able, Discreet, Honest and Sober" volunteers to be the 'Firemen of the City of New York."
A picture of American firefighters in the 1770s
Napoleon created the first military unit of firefighters on September 18, 1811 as a result of a lackluster response during a fire at the Austrian Embassy. Their members were the sappers of the Imperial Guard in charge of preventing and fighting fires in the Imperial Palaces in Paris. Today the Paris Fire Brigade is part of the French Army. They serve Paris and the surrounding area of 7 million people.
In 1867, after New York City firemen sent a fire engine/fire gears for use by Columbia, South Carolina which was razed by fire in the Civil War, the state promised to return favor "should misfortune ever befall the Empire City." After 9/11, Columbia sent a fire ladder truck to New York City Fire Department as a gesture from 1867.
The fire pole was invented in the 1870s by David Kenyon of Chicago's Engine Company 21. When it was first used other firefighters thought its use was crazy—until 21 started being the first Chicago crew to arrive at fires.
Until 1878, fire houses were equipped with spiral staircases so the fire horses would not try to climb the stairs into the firefighter's living quarters.
Three Honolulu firefighters were killed, and six wounded, during the attack on Pearl Harbor, making them the first fire department on American soil to be attacked by a foreign power.
UK's first woman firefighter, Mary Langdon, joined East Sussex Fire Brigade in 1976.
Some 343 firefighters were killed during the Al Qaeda terror attacks on New York’s Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.
Comedian Pete Davidson’s father, Scott Davidson, was a New York firefighter who died on September 11th, 2001 when entering the World Trade Center towers. He was last seen entering the ground floor of the WTC Marriott to help victims who had been trapped by the first crash.
International Firefighters’ Day is observed each year on May 4th. It is a time where the world’s community can recognize and honor the sacrifices that firefighters make to ensure that their communities and environment are as safe as possible. It is also a day in which current and past firefighters can be thanked for their contributions.
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International Firefighters’ Day was instituted after a proposal was emailed out across the world on January 4, 1999 by Lt JJ Edmondson due to the deaths of five firefighters in tragic circumstances in a large bushfire at Linton in Victoria, Australia.
The date was chosen as May 4 is the feast day of St Florian, the patron saint of firefighters. This date is also known as St Florian’s Day worldwide and has been tradition for more than 150 years in Europe.
Firefighters use wetting agents to make water more "wet". The chemicals added reduce the surface tension of plain water so it's easier to spread and soak into objects, which is why it’s known as “wet water.”
Firefighters in Dubai use jetpacks to tackle blazes in high-rise buildings.
Smokejumpers are specialized firefighters who parachute in remote areas to fight early fires, with little to no ground support.
About 100 firefighters die each year in America.
Every fire department in Chile is staffed by volunteer firefighters, from the smallest towns to major cities such as Santiago and Valparaiso. Chile is possibly the only nation in the world with an entirely volunteer fire service.
Before "SOS" became a distress signal, “CQD" was used by telegraphers and wireless operators to address all stations at once in emergencies.
Mayday is an international distress call used by ships and aircraft in radio communications. The Mayday procedure word was originated in 1923 by Frederick Stanley Mockford (1897–March 1, 1962), who was a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London. When asked to think of a word that could be used internationally to indicate distress and be easily understood by in an emergency, Mockford proposed "Mayday" an alliteration of the French "m’aider" in versez m’aider ("come and help me").
The emergency 999 phone service, the first of its kind in the world, was introduced to Britain on June 30, 1937. It followed a two-year inquiry into the deaths of five women in a London fire in 1935.
This first emergency phone number initially only covered a radius of 12 miles.
The 999 number was chosen due to the ease of dialing it on phones at that time. Tory MP Sir Sidney Herbert had suggested a special emergency button on the handset instead, saying: "How can a lady with a burglar in the house remember to dial 999?"
At first the buzzer which alerted switchboard operators to a 999 emergency call was so loud that a number of girl operators fainted when they heard it. This problem was resolved by inserting a tennis ball in the mouth of the buzzer, which succeeded in reducing the noise to a more tolerable level.
The first 911 emergency telephone system in the US. went operational in Haleyville, Alabama on February 16, 1968.
The first-ever 9-1-1 call was placed by Alabama Speaker of the House Rankin Fite, from Haleyville City Hall, to U.S. Rep. Tom Bevill, at the city's police station.
In 1968, 9-1-1 became the national emergency number for the United States. The number itself, however, did not become widely known until the 1970s, and many municipalities did not have 9-1-1 service until well into the 1980s.
When Michael Jackson's car broke down once in Beverly Hills, he called 911 for help. He was advised to only use 911 in emergency situations. He was very surprised when they refused to assist him, even after he told them that he was Michael Jackson.
During a 1994 blackout in Los Angeles, 911 received a number of calls about a sinister looking cloud in the sky. It was the Milky Way.
In 1996, Baltimore adopted the first 311 system as a way to ease pressure on the overburdened 911 system. The new system freed up emergency phone lines and shortened wait times for emergency calls,
If you need to call 911, but are scared to because of someone in the room, you can dial the number and ask to order a pizza. When they ask you to confirm you know it is 911, you say yes. Continue ordering the pizza, ask how long before it's ready, they give you the ETA of nearest officer.
Wheelchair-bound man Gary Rosheisen tried to train his cat, Tommy, to dial 911 as he was suffering from mini strokes, but he wasn't sure if the orange-and-tan striped cat got it. But when in 2006 he had a stroke, the police received a silent call from his house and went to find Tommy by the telephone and Rosheisen on the floor.
A 2-year-old girl in South Carolina called 911, asking for help getting dressed. Deputy Martha Lohnes showed up and pulled up her pants.
Contrary to the urban myth, dialing 999 does not charge mobile phone batteries.
In India, Israel and Greece, you must dial 100 to reach the police, not 911 or 999.
Japan’s 5pm bell, or national emergency broadcast system, that plays music each day at a specific time for over 90% of the country. The music is actually a daily test to ensure the system can inform residents of any major disasters (i.e. tsunami, industrial accident).
An ambulance is a a medically equipped vehicle designed for the transportation of the sick or injured.
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In 1191 a pioneering ambulance service was undertaken by the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, a charitable organization originally set up to care for sick pilgrims to the Holy Land. The Hospitallers, who had received instruction in first-aid treatment from Greek and Arab doctors, organized horse-drawn carts to transport men wounded in battle during the Third Crusade back into their own lines for treatment instead of being left to die. It was also common practice for small rewards to be paid to soldiers who carry the wounded bodies of other soldiers in for medical treatment.
During the Italian campaign in the late 1700s the French general Napoleon’s private surgeon, Baron Dominique Larrey developed an ambulance system whereby wounded soldiers on the battlefield could quickly receive help by means of trained attendants giving first-aid with medical equipment moved out from the field hospitals. If the injury was serious stretcher - bearers took them immediately from the battlefield to the field hospitals by stretcher, hand-carts and wagons.
The word “ambulance” is derived from the French word “ambulant” meaning it is "moving." It refers back to the first temporary field hospitals during the Napoleonic Wars, which moved with the army and in their French description were known as hôpital ambulant.
Ambulance services in America became common after the Civil War, and funeral home directors were some of the first to get in on the act. In the early days, the lifesaving vehicles were powered by horses and featured sparse equipment—usually just a stretcher, blanket, and some whiskey to numb the pain.
In 1884, before there were ambulances for people in San Francisco, there was an ambulance for horses. It came to the aid of six in its first month of service.
The first civilian ambulance service was set up in 1892 in Brisbane, Australia. After witnessing an accident at the Brisbane Exhibition, Seymour Warrian founded the City Ambulance Transport Brigade.
The first motorized ambulance service was set up in central London in 1905 using four vehicles.
The first U.S. motorized ambulance unit operated in Mexico in 1916 during the American punitive expedition against the Mexican revolutionary general Pancho Villa.
In the US, funeral directors were involved in the ambulance business through the early 1970s when purpose built ambulances became available. In most towns, if you needed to be taken to the hospital, you called the funeral home, and they’d use their hearse to transport you to the hospital.
Since the signing of the Geneva Convention in 1864, ambulance units and the wounded in their care have been considered neutrals on the field of battle.
The French philosophy on emergency medical care is to provide a higher level of care at the scene of the incident, and so every ambulance is staffed with a doctor who arrives on site.
