Vessel Emergency Codes

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.