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Originally Posted by Cdre Gibs
SOS - Oh it definatley has a meaning. Save Our Souls. Harks back to the days when all seamen were God fearing folk.
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That was not the "official" name of SOS.
The only way to make sense of it is this. SOS, and previously CQD, in modern day terms would be like 911. Its more or less a distress signal. I believe that at any point in a message the letters, S O S were in that order, was to be seen as a ship at sea declaring a state of emergancy, and requesting assistance from anyone in the area.
I believe that SOS was instituted around 1912, around the same time the Titanic sank. I belive at that time CQD was still seen as a distress call as well. But I believe, and correct me if I am wrong, the radioman on the Titanic was the first to use the "new" SOS distress signal. After the instituting of SOS it was later give the "unofficial" acronym of Save Our Souls, but was never intended to actually represent those words. Kind of like 911 bieng associated with 9/11 (Sept 11th) after the attacks.
Just my two cents, and again I am not 100% sure on all that.