06/10/2026
📻⚓ **MAYDAY • PAN PAN • SECURITE**
**Three radio signals. Three different priorities.**
A Second Officer must do more than memorize these words. The real skill is choosing the correct priority for the **actual danger**, communicating clearly and reassessing as conditions change.
🔴 **1. MAYDAY — DISTRESS**
Used when a vessel or person faces **grave and imminent danger and requires immediate assistance**.
Possible examples:
🔥 An uncontrolled fire threatening the ship.
🌊 Flooding that cannot be controlled, with danger of sinking.
🚢 A collision causing serious flooding or other immediate danger.
🛟 A person overboard requiring immediate outside assistance.
⚠️ **The incident name alone does not decide the priority.**
Assess its severity, available control measures and the danger to life or the vessel.
**Spoken opening:**
“MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY.”
Then provide:
✅ Vessel name, call sign and MMSI.
✅ Position.
✅ Nature of distress.
✅ Assistance required.
✅ Persons on board.
✅ Other information useful to rescuers.
Where fitted and practicable, send the prescribed **DSC distress alert**, then follow with the voice distress call and message.
🟠 **2. PAN PAN — URGENCY**
Used for a **very urgent message concerning the safety of a vessel or person**, when the situation does not meet distress criteria.
Possible examples:
⚙️ Propulsion failure with adequate sea room and no immediate danger.
🩺 A medical problem requiring urgent advice or assistance, without an immediate life-threatening condition.
🧭 A steering problem while the vessel remains safely controlled.
**Spoken opening:**
“PAN PAN, PAN PAN, PAN PAN.”
State your identity, position, problem, assistance required and relevant intentions.
⚠️ **PAN PAN does not mean “a minor problem.”**
It has priority over safety and routine communications.
If conditions deteriorate into grave and imminent danger, **upgrade to MAYDAY promptly**.
🟡 **3. SECURITE — SAFETY**
Used to announce **important navigational or meteorological safety information**.
Possible examples:
🪵 A floating obstruction dangerous to navigation.
💡 A navigation light or buoy observed damaged or out of position.
⚓ A newly discovered hazard.
🌬️ An important weather warning.
**Spoken opening:**
“SECURITE, SECURITE, SECURITE.”
Identify your station and describe the hazard clearly, including its position, observation time and relevant details.
⚠️ **SECURITE means safety communication.**
It is not automatically the correct signal for every security-related incident.
📊 **RADIO PRIORITY ORDER**
**DISTRESS → URGENCY → SAFETY → ROUTINE**
A safety broadcast must not interfere with distress or urgency traffic.
📡 **DSC AND VOICE HAVE DIFFERENT JOBS**
DSC provides digital alerting or calling.
Voice communicates the detailed message.
For VHF:
📡 **Channel 70:** DSC only.
🎙️ **Channel 16:** voice distress, urgency, safety and calling, as applicable.
An urgency or safety DSC announcement can identify the channel for the following voice message. Follow the prescribed procedure and move extended broadcasts or routine traffic to a suitable working channel.
🚫 **COMMON MISTAKES**
❌ Using MAYDAY simply to obtain a quicker reply.
❌ Treating every engine failure as automatically PAN PAN.
❌ Keeping a life-threatening medical emergency at urgency priority.
❌ Assuming SECURITE has no priority because nobody is requesting rescue.
❌ Selecting the DSC distress button for an ordinary urgency or safety announcement.
❌ Failing to update stations when the situation changes or assistance is no longer needed.
🧠 **ONE FAILURE — DIFFERENT POSSIBLE PRIORITIES**
**Engine stopped offshore, vessel safely drifting:** PAN PAN may be appropriate.
**Same failure near a lee shore, with imminent grounding and immediate assistance required:** MAYDAY may be necessary.
**Reporting a drifting object that threatens other ships:** SECURITE may be appropriate.
🎯 **SECOND MATE INTERVIEW ANSWER**
“MAYDAY indicates grave and imminent danger requiring immediate assistance. PAN PAN introduces a very urgent message concerning the safety of a vessel or person without meeting distress criteria. SECURITE announces important navigational or meteorological safety information. I select the priority according to the actual situation and upgrade it if the danger increases.”
⚓ **Assess the danger. Select the priority. Deliver a clear message.**
