This day in music history.

August 11, 1909. The international distress call, SOS, which replaced CDQ (All stations -- distress!), was first used by an American ship on this day. The ocean liner Arapahoe found itself in trouble off Cape Hatteras, NC. The ships wireless operator, T. D. Haubner, radioed for help when his ship lost its screw propeller near the Graveyard of the Atlantic, Diamond Shoals. The call was heard by the United Wireless station at Hatteras.
Contrary to popular opinion, SOS (which has no stops between the letters, the signal being a continuous signal of three dots, three dashes and three dots) is not an acronym for any series of words such as Save Our Ship or Save Our Souls. The original call for distress began with the British CQ, meaning All Stations, used by telegraph and cable operators worldwide. The D for distress was added to CQ by the Marconi company in 1904.
In 1906, at the Berlin Radiotelegraphic Conference, the Germans general inquiry call, SOE, was suggested as an international distress signal. Changing the E to S gave the signal its unmistakeable character, and SOS was officially ratified as the international distress signal in 1908, although it was not officially adopted by the USA until 1912 (prompted by the Titanic tragedy). It is interesting to note that the Titanics radio operator sent Marconis CQD code six times before using the four-year-old international SOS signal some twenty minutes later ... as Marconi waited in NY to make the return trip to England on the ill-fated ship.
SOS by Abba
Where are those happy days, they seem so hard to find
I tried to reach for you, but you have closed your mind
Whatever happened to our love? I wish I understood
It used to be so nice, it used to be so good
So when your near me, darling cant you hear me
S. o. s.
The love you gave me, nothing else can save me
S. o. s.
When your gone
How can I even try to go on?
When your gone
Though I try how can I carry on?
You seem so far away though you are standing near
You made me feel alive, but something died I fear
I really tried to make it out
I wish I understood
What happened to our love, it used to be so good
So when your near me, darling cant you hear me
S. o. s.
The love you gave me, nothing else can save me
S. o. s.
When your gone
How can I even try to go on?
When your gone
Though I try how can I carry on?
So when your near me, darling cant you hear me
S. o. s.
And the love you gave me, nothing else can save me
S. o. s.
When your gone
How can I even try to go on?
When your gone
Though I try how can I carry on?
When your gone
How can I even try to go on?
When your gone
Though I try how can I carry on?