In addition to distress signals like Mayday and pan-pan, most vessels, especially passenger ships, use some emergency signals to internally alert the crew on board, and in some cases also the passengers. These can be in form of blasts on alarm bells, sounding the ship's whistle or code names paged over the PA system.
- Mr. Skylight paged over the PA system is an alert for the crew on board and means there is a minor emergency somewhere.
- Mr. Mob means man overboard. Man overboard can also be signaled with three prolonged blasts on the ship's whistle and general alarm bell (Morse code "Oscar").
- Code Blue usually means a medical emergency.
- Assemble at Muster Stations or Abandon Ship, seven or more short blasts on the ship's whistle and general alarm, followed by one long blast.
- Fire and emergency, continuous ringing of the general alarm bell for ten seconds and a continuous sounding of the ship's whistle for ten seconds.
- Bravo, Bravo, Bravo, used by many cruise lines to alert crew to a fire or other serious incident on board without alarming passengers.
- Alpha, Alpha, Alpha, is the code for Medical Emergency aboard Royal Caribbean ships.
- Oscar, Oscar, Oscar, is the code for Man Overboard aboard Royal Caribbean ships.
- Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, is the code for a security threat aboard Royal Caribbean ships.
- Echo, Echo, Echo, is the code for a possible collision with another ship or the shore aboard Royal Caribbean ships.
Famous quotes containing the words vessel, emergency and/or codes:
“A man’s interest in the world is only the overflow from his interest in himself. When you are a child your vessel is not yet full; so you care for nothing but your own affairs. When you grow up, your vessel overflows; and you are a politician, a philosopher, or an explorer and adventurer. In old age the vessel dries up: there is no overflow: you are a child again.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“War-making is one of the few activities that people are not supposed to view “realistically”; that is, with an eye to expense and practical outcome. In all-out war, expenditure is all-out, unprudent—war being defined as an emergency in which no sacrifice is excessive.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“... until both employers’ and workers’ groups assume responsibility for chastising their own recalcitrant children, they can vainly bay the moon about “ignorant” and “unfair” public criticism. Moreover, their failure to impose voluntarily upon their own groups codes of decency and honor will result in more and more necessity for government control.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)