Distress signal of m/v Prinsendam/PJTA sent on 04 of Oct 1980 in the Gulf of Alaska on Pacific Ocean. It was sent on 500kHz maritime band using Morse code (telegraphy).
I was on watch guarding 500khz at USCG commsta San Francisco/NMC the night this happened. The r/o on the Prinsendam/PJTA was in contact with USCG commsta Kodiak/NOJ sending an xxx on the working frequency. I copied this verbatim in my log. The op at NOJ was having difficulty with the whole qso. Eventually he told NOJ "qta xxx up 500 for sos". PJTA moved to 500 khz and sent his sos immediately. I received his sos and it was immediately relayed to appropriate authorities via teletype. I was in direct contact with PJTA for period of time until relieved of duty. I thought twice about making a copy of my log, but didn't. I wish I had.
According to reports, the SOS was sent illegally. The ship contacted the Coast Guard which advised the ship to send the SOS. The captain refused. A half hour later, the radio operator did it on his own, without authority. He saved the crew and passengers. ================================================= Just over thirty five years ago , Chief Radio Officer Jack van der Zee performed an act of heroism that was later recognized by Queen Beatrix. On October 4, 1980, the passenger ship MS Prinsendam of the Holland-America line was in severe distress off the coast of Alaska with about 350 passengers and 200 crew. There was a fire in the engine room, the ship was being flooded, and it ultimately sank. Due to the lateness of the hour, few vessels in the area were monitoring the radio, although virtually every vessel at sea was equipped with an automatic alarm to alert for any SOS calls. The Prinsendam contacted the U.S. Coast Guard, which advised that the ship should send an SOS to alert the vessels in the area to assist in the rescue. The decision rested with the ship’s master, Cornelis Dirk Wabeke. Captain Wabeke refused to do so. Because the SOS would allow assisting ships to assert salvage rights, he instead ordered radio officer van der Zee to send the message as a mere “urgent” message. Since the radio officers of nearby ships would not be at their stations, van der Zee realized that no nearby ship would hear the message. Van der Zee, already feeling the heat of the fire through his shoes, made a courageous decision. Realizing full well that the decision could result in loss of his job and pension, and even imprisonment for mutiny, decided to ignore the captain’s order. Instead, he sent the message as an SOS, prefaced by the signals that would activate the automatic alarms of other nearby ships. Within minutes, other ships were alerted to the looming disaster, and raced to the scene to assist. Within hours, the ship was sunk, but U.S. and Canadian military and Coast Guard rescuers were on the scene, assisted by the civilian vessels alerted by van der Zee’s mutinous act,
Thank you for this insight into the Prinsendam. My grandmother was on board and God saved everyone. Thank you dear Jack van der Zee. You made the right decision to save so many lives. My family had another 12 years of joy with my grandmother before she went home to the Lord.
This clip is a history.Worth oh holding anyway as a curio.No more 500Khz is used to send SOS signals.Now GMDSS system is in power .Distress signals are sent with less power and digitally coded via numerous F ,subject to so called Region of Sailing. It prevent from electromagnetic "pollution "of atmosphere.Officer on the bridge just push a buttom "Distress call" and signal is sent streight to Rescue Coordination Centre to process and organise a help.
A longer version as well as the XXX (URGENT - PAN PAN) broadcast that preceded this SOS is found on Archive.org - I digitized this recording and the one on which this video was made. See: archive.org/details/SosMsPrinsendamOctober41980 Over to the right you will see PDF and under it will be my original handwritten log book and other related documents. Also on archive org are videos made by USAF and TV News coverage archive.org/details/MsPrinsendamSosDistressOct.41980_292
Met s.o.s. wordt bedoeld het als één morseteken geseinde noodsignaal ...___... In tegenstelling van wat algemeen wordt gedacht is het geen afkorting maar een zo opvallend mogelijk signaal temidden van andere morsetekens. Dit noodsein ging altijd vooraf aan de noodoproep en het daarop volgende noodbericht en had volstrekte voorrang boven andere berichten. ex radio-officier van 1960 tot 1968.
I only heard one SOS when I was at sea. It filled me with aprhension when I heard the alarm signal as I knew something was coming which might be bad. Just listening to those same alarm notes made the same feeling come back!! Ps what does the "Cole 57" mean at the end of the sos?
I know what you mean Dave. I participated once (1971) (both on 2.182 and 500 kHZ) in distress traffic led by Landsendradio/GLD. The ship in distress (a fisherman) had given the wrong position in its maydaycall. For that reason we sailed by them without realising that the lights we saw were from them........ Our ship was a large bulk carrier so too hazardous to make a U turn in the Channel. I followed the distress trafic all night thrue and was happy to hear that they were all saved later that night. Best 73 fm an ex sparks, now still active in CW as PA5ABW
"COLE" should have been "COL" for routine collation (repetition) of important or unusual words in a message. It was routinely done with sending telegrams. It was usually NOT copied down on WT, but ITU regulations called for it to be sent on teleprinter (wire) messages. I didn't copy the COL in my log as you can see - that's my handwritten logbook from WGOA.
More information at Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Prinsendam_(1973) and voice recordings archive.org/details/SosMsPrinsendamOctober41980/prinsendam_introduction.mp3
