A sailing vessel has gone aground in a river estuary, on a falling tide, and is now stuck firmly in the mud.
This concerns a vessel, so it passes the first test, and the danger has already happened, so it is more than imminent. But there is no reason to believe that grounding on mud and in sheltered waters will involve the loss of the vessel, or endanger lives, so it fails to meet the “grave” part of the “grave and imminent” test, and is therefore NOT a distress situation.
After struggling to raise the anchor, the sixty-year-old skipper suffered a severe pain in his chest, and fell to the deck.
These signs and symptoms could well indicate a heart attack. If someone on board is a doctor or paramedic, they might make a quick and confident diagnosis that it is really angina, and that the patient will soon recover. Someone with little or no first aid training could not be so confident, and would be justified in fearing the worst. Whether this is a distress situation or not depends on the judgement of the person in charge of the vessel. In this particular case, the “person in charge” is no longer the usual skipper.
The Distress Call
The distress call is the only case in which a ship radio station is allowed to broadcast: in other words, it is allowed to transmit a distress call and message without addressing them to anyone.
Although the Radio Regulations allow distress calls to be made on any channel, it clearly makes sense to use the channel that is set aside for the purpose, and to use the maximum power you have available.
Select Channel 16
Use High Power
Remember to speak slowly and clearly
The distress call itself consists of the procedure word “Mayday”, spoken three times, followed by the procedure words “this is”, followed by your own boat name three times followed by your callsign. If you have an MMSI (see page 62), you should include it as well:
Mayday, Mayday, Mayday
this is
Princess Ida, Princess Ida, Princess Ida
Mike, Victor, Yankee, Quebec, Seven
MMSI 232089001
Most of the prowords relating to distress are based on French. Mayday itself comes from the French “M’aidez”, meaning “help me!”
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