View source for 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{{'"}}.<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=469 |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 of the Veteran Wireless Operators Association, in recognition of his sending the first CQD wireless distress signal from an American vessel.<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]]