Maritime English and Communications: SMCP and GMDSS Distress Traffic
What this domain tests
Standard Marine Communication Phrases and GMDSS procedure: making and relaying distress, urgency and safety traffic correctly, and communicating bridge intentions without ambiguity.
Core rules
- SMCP message markers: Instruction, Advice, Request, Information, Question, Answer, Intention, Warning. Use them so the receiver knows what kind of message is coming.
- Distress: MAYDAY on VHF Ch 16 after a DSC alert on Ch 70 (MF DSC 2187.5 kHz). Urgency: PAN PAN. Safety: SECURITE.
- Distress message content: MAYDAY three times, this is, ship's name and call sign three times, position in degrees and minutes, nature of distress, assistance required, persons on board, any other information, over.
- Silence: MAYDAY RELAY by an assisting station; SEELONCE MAYDAY to impose silence; SEELONCE FEENEE to lift it.
- GMDSS sea areas A1 to A4 dictate the equipment carried; EPIRB 406 MHz, SART 9 GHz, NAVTEX 518 kHz, Inmarsat for A3.
Worked example
Fire in the engine room, abandoning not yet required but assistance needed. Correct traffic is a MAYDAY: MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY, this is MOTOR VESSEL ARVAND, call sign EPAB2, EPAB2, EPAB2, MAYDAY, position 26 degrees 34 minutes north, 056 degrees 15 minutes east, fire in engine room, require immediate assistance, 22 persons on board, over. An urgency call (PAN PAN) would understate the danger and could delay the response.
Traps
- Using MAYDAY for a situation that is only urgent.
- Omitting the position or giving it loosely.
- Failing to impose silence when a distress frequency is congested with routine traffic.
- Using non-standard phrases that a foreign pilot or VTS cannot interpret.