Mayday Relay
There are, unfortunately, plenty of reasons why a Mayday may not reach the Search and Rescue authorities.
It may be that the vessel concerned has been dismasted, and is having to use an emergency antenna (or no antenna at all).
It may be that the battery is being lapped by rising bilge water, so the power available is low.
It may be that the message is being sent from a hand-held radio because the vessel’s main radio is surrounded by smoke and flames;
or it may just be that it is out of radio range.
Whatever the reason, if you hear a Distress message but do not hear an acknowledgement or further radio traffic from the casualty that suggests her call has been acknowledged, you may be able to assist by acting as a relay station. The proword “Mayday Relay” makes it clear that you are not in distress yourself, but are passing on a message for someone else. If you don’t receive a reply from the Coastguard almost immediately, you should repeat the process, but substituting “All Ships” in place of the name of the coastguard station.
“Mayday relay(X3). Falmouth Coastguard(X3) this is Sorcerer(X3). Two, Golf, Romeo, Charlie. MMSI 235032528.”
The procedure word “Mayday Relay”, repeated three times. The name of the vessel that is transmitting the message, not the one that is in distress.
“(M) Mayday. (I) Motor Cruiser Princess Ida 232089001. Mike, Victor, Yankee, Quebec, Seven. (P) Position five zero degrees three two point three minutes north, three degrees, two five point four minutes west, on Adamant Sands. (D) Aground. (A) Request immediate assistance. (N) Three people on board. (I) Twelve metre motor cruiser, white deck and hull. (O) Over.”
If you are reporting a distress signal received by other means, give as much equivalent information as possible, such as “red flare seen approximately one two zero degrees from Blunt Point, five miles”.
The procedure is very simple, so long as you wrote down the distress message you heard.
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