Mayday, Pan-Pan, Sécurité: what to say on the VHF, word for word
The exact words, in the order the coastguard expects them, plus the DSC button, the Pan-Pan and the Sécurité, and what to do when somebody presses the red button by mistake.
In this piece
To make a Mayday call on a marine VHF, first send a DSC distress alert if your radio has DSC: lift the cover over the red DISTRESS button and hold it down for about five seconds. Then, on channel 16 at high power, press the transmit button and say, slowly: MAYDAY three times; THIS IS and your boat’s name three times, the call sign and the MMSI; MAYDAY, the name once more, the call sign and MMSI; MY POSITION IS; what is wrong; I REQUIRE IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE; how many people are aboard and anything else that will help; OVER. Then let go of the button and listen.
Below, the call is written out word for word, with the Pan-Pan and Sécurité calls, what an answer sounds like, and how to cancel an alert sent by mistake. One thing first. In most countries you need an operator’s certificate to use a marine VHF, such as the Short Range Certificate (SRC) in the UK and across much of Europe, and the boat needs a radio licence. The rules differ from country to country, so check yours. This article puts the words in front of you. It does not replace the course, where you practise them on a real set.
Mayday, Pan-Pan or Sécurité?
| Call | Use it when | For example |
|---|---|---|
| MAYDAY | A vessel or a person is in grave and imminent danger and needs immediate assistance | Fire you cannot control, flooding you cannot stop, sinking, a person overboard, a life-threatening injury or illness |
| PAN-PAN | The situation is urgent, but there is no grave and imminent danger | Engine failure with a lee shore some hours away, lost steering in open water, an injured crew member who is stable but needs medical advice or evacuation |
| SÉCURITÉ | You have a safety message about navigation or weather | A floating container, a buoy out of position, a light that is not working |
A Mayday is sent on the skipper’s authority, and the test is in the definition: grave, imminent, immediate. If you are unsure, start with a Pan-Pan. It can be upgraded to a Mayday the moment things get worse, and an early Pan-Pan gives the coastguard time to get help moving before you need it.
First: the DSC distress alert
A DSC radio sends a digital distress alert on channel 70 that carries your MMSI and, if the set has a GPS feed, your position. Coast stations and every DSC set in range receive it, and it does not depend on anyone making out a voice through the static. If you have DSC, send it first.
- Lift the cover over the red button marked DISTRESS.
- Choose the nature of distress, if there is time. Most sets offer a list: fire or explosion, flooding, collision, grounding, listing or capsizing, sinking, disabled and adrift, abandoning ship, man overboard. How you reach the list differs between sets, so find it on yours today. If there is no time, skip it and the alert goes as undesignated.
- Press and hold the button for about five seconds, until the radio shows the alert has gone. Most count down on the screen.
- Make the voice call. The radio switches itself to channel 16. Check it is on high power and give the Mayday below. The alert repeats by itself every few minutes until it is acknowledged.
Before you ever need it, check two things on the radio’s screen: that your MMSI has been programmed in, and that it shows a position and the time from a GPS. A DSC alert with no position says who you are but not where.
How to make a Mayday call, word for word
Channel 16, high power. Hold the microphone a few centimetres from your mouth, press the transmit button, and speak a little slower than feels natural. Here is the call for an imaginary 12 metre yacht called Ariadne.
MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY THIS IS YACHT ARIADNE ARIADNE ARIADNE CALL SIGN MIKE BRAVO CHARLIE SEVEN MMSI 235 012 345 MAYDAY ARIADNE CALL SIGN MIKE BRAVO CHARLIE SEVEN, MMSI 235 012 345 MY POSITION IS 36 DEGREES 40.2 MINUTES NORTH, 027 DEGREES 10.5 MINUTES EAST FIRE IN THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT, OUT OF CONTROL I REQUIRE IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE FOUR PERSONS ON BOARD WE ARE PREPARING TO ABANDON TO THE LIFERAFT WHITE SLOOP, 12 METRES, BLUE SPRAYHOOD OVER
The order is the one UK radio courses teach with the memory aid MIPDANIO.
| Letter | Stands for | What you say |
|---|---|---|
| M | Mayday | MAYDAY three times |
| I | Identification | THIS IS, the name three times, call sign, MMSI; then MAYDAY, the name, call sign and MMSI once more |
| P | Position | MY POSITION IS, then latitude and longitude, or a bearing and distance from a charted point |
| D | Distress | What is wrong, in a few words |
| A | Assistance | I REQUIRE IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE |
| N | Number | How many people are aboard |
| I | Information | Anything that helps them find or help you: abandoning to the liferaft, injuries, what the boat looks like |
| O | Over | OVER, then let go of the button |
Say numbers digit by digit: “three six degrees four zero decimal two minutes north”. Spell the call sign in the phonetic alphabet. While the transmit button is held down you cannot hear anything, so let go after OVER.
Giving your position
Latitude first, then longitude, in degrees and decimal minutes, the way the chart and the GPS show them. Read it off the plotter, the DSC set’s screen or a phone. If you use SafeBoat, the anchor alarm card on its home screen shows the phone’s position in degrees and decimal minutes, so whoever is at the radio can read it out at a glance.
The alternative is a bearing and distance from a charted, named point: MY POSITION IS 180 DEGREES TRUE FROM BODRUM CASTLE, 2 MILES. The bearing runs from the landmark to you, in degrees true. If you took a compass bearing of the landmark from the boat, turn it round by 180 degrees and correct it for variation before you say it.
Then wait and listen
After OVER, let go and listen on 16. The acknowledgement follows a fixed pattern.
MAYDAY ARIADNE ARIADNE ARIADNE THIS IS (coast station name, three times) RECEIVED MAYDAY
Then come the questions: your position again, how many aboard, whether everyone is wearing a life jacket, what help you need. Answer them short and clear, and do what they ask. If nobody answers, check the set (channel 16, high power, volume up, squelch not turned too far) and send the call again. If you have to abandon to the liferaft, take a handheld VHF with you. Far offshore, beyond the range of any coast station, a VHF call may reach nobody at all; that is what the EPIRB and the PLBs on your life jackets are for, and our piece on sailing alone goes through them.
Seelonce Mayday
While a distress is being handled, the coastguard, or whoever is controlling the traffic, may say SEELONCE MAYDAY. From then on nobody else talks on that channel unless they are part of the rescue. PRUDONCE means restricted working may start again, and SEELONCE FEENEE means the distress is over and the channel is back to normal. If you hear SEELONCE MAYDAY in the middle of a call to the marina, stop.
The Pan-Pan call
A Pan-Pan has the same shape with a different opening and a different request. It is usually addressed to all stations, though you can address it to a particular coast station instead. If you have DSC, you can send an urgency announcement first; that is done from the radio’s call menu, never with the red button.
PAN-PAN PAN-PAN PAN-PAN ALL STATIONS ALL STATIONS ALL STATIONS THIS IS YACHT ARIADNE ARIADNE ARIADNE CALL SIGN MIKE BRAVO CHARLIE SEVEN, MMSI 235 012 345 MY POSITION IS 180 DEGREES TRUE FROM BODRUM CASTLE, 2 MILES LOST STEERING, DRIFTING NORTH TOWARD THE SHORE AT 1 KNOT I REQUIRE A TOW FOUR PERSONS ON BOARD OVER
The Sécurité call
Sécurité (say-cure-ee-tay) warns other vessels about something that affects their safety. On a yacht you will hear far more of them than you send, because coastguards use them for navigation and weather warnings. When you do send one, it is usually announced on 16 and given on a working channel, to keep 16 clear. On 16, say SÉCURITÉ three times, ALL STATIONS three times, THIS IS with your boat’s name three times, call sign and MMSI, and the working channel you are moving to. Then switch to that channel and give the message.
SÉCURITÉ SÉCURITÉ SÉCURITÉ ALL STATIONS ALL STATIONS ALL STATIONS THIS IS YACHT ARIADNE ARIADNE ARIADNE CALL SIGN MIKE BRAVO CHARLIE SEVEN, MMSI 235 012 345 SHIPPING CONTAINER AFLOAT, PARTLY SUBMERGED IN POSITION 36 DEGREES 51.0 MINUTES NORTH, 027 DEGREES 25.0 MINUTES EAST, AT 1430 UTC DANGER TO NAVIGATION OUT
When you hear someone else’s Mayday
Write down what you hear, the position above all, and keep quiet. If a coast station acknowledges the call, the rescue is in hand; the coastguard will usually ask vessels in the area to report, and if you are near, answer with your position and how long you would take to get there.
If nobody acknowledges a Mayday, or you see a boat in distress that cannot call for itself (flares, a capsized dinghy, someone waving from a drifting boat), send a MAYDAY RELAY on 16. Say MAYDAY RELAY three times, then ALL STATIONS three times or the coast station’s name three times, then THIS IS with your own boat’s name three times, call sign and MMSI. Then pass on everything you know about the vessel in distress, in the same order as a Mayday, and finish with OVER.
Never press your own red DISTRESS button for somebody else’s emergency. A DSC distress alert says that the boat which sent it is the one in distress, and the search will start on you.
Cancelling a false DSC alert
Red buttons get pressed by accident: a child exploring the chart table, a knee during a tack, a bag stowed against the radio. When it happens, cancel it properly and at once. Switching off and hoping can leave a search running for a boat that is fine.
- Stop the alert. If the radio is still counting down or repeating, use its cancel option; if it has none, switch it off, which stops the repeats.
- Switch on, select channel 16 and high power.
- Broadcast to all stations, then stay on 16 in case the coastguard calls you.
ALL STATIONS ALL STATIONS ALL STATIONS THIS IS YACHT ARIADNE ARIADNE ARIADNE CALL SIGN MIKE BRAVO CHARLIE SEVEN, MMSI 235 012 345 POSITION 36 DEGREES 40.2 MINUTES NORTH, 027 DEGREES 10.5 MINUTES EAST CANCEL MY DISTRESS ALERT OF 4 OCTOBER AT 1052 UTC
That follows the international guidance on false alerts, and it tells the coastguard everything they need to stand down. If they call you, answer and explain. The same goes for an EPIRB or PLB set off by accident: switch it off and tell the coastguard by whatever means you have.
The licence, and a card by the radio
In the UK and much of Europe, the SRC course takes about a day and covers the DSC procedures on a real set. It is the place to make your first Mayday call, to an instructor, before you ever make one for real. In a genuine distress anyone aboard may use the radio, licensed or not, which is a good reason to show the whole crew how, and to put it in the standing orders for night watches.
Then print a call card and fix it beside the radio. Write in your boat’s name, call sign and MMSI, the same details that go on your float plan, so nobody has to find them in a hurry with smoke coming up the companionway. Below that, the Mayday in MIPDANIO order with blanks for the position, the problem and the number aboard, and a line saying where on the boat the position is displayed. Add how to select channel 16 and high power on your particular set, because under stress people lose track of which button does what. Then read it aloud once with the crew, so that the first time anyone says those words is not the day they need them.