Does SOS mean Save Our Souls or Save Our Ship ?

Question

There must be one main meaning.

Answer 1

There is no meaning. These letters were chosen because it's simple to learn. For S three short and O three long.

Answer 2

It means 'save our souls', because people in distress on land , mountains, and air have also been signaling in the same way.

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Answer 3

It means SAVE OUR SOULS and don't say it in front of a preacher,you'll never get rid of him.

Answer 4

SOS definitely means "Save or Souls" (ie, our lives). By the time an SOS is sent it is usually far too late to save the ship and the intention is to abandon it.

Answer 5

It' like RIP to a smoker it is rolled in paper. on a tomb stone is rest in peace..

Answer 6

SOS:

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | Date: 2008

SOS code letters of the international distress signal. The signal is expressed in International Morse code as … — — — … (three dots, three dashes, three dots). This combination was established by the International Radiotelegraphic Convention at Berlin in 1906. The letters (SOS) do not refer to any words but were selected because they are easy to transmit. The use of Morse code for sending distress calls is now superseded by automated systems using satellite relay; the U.S. Coast Guard no longer monitors Morse code transmissions. The distress code by radiotelephony is MAY DAY, which corresponds to the French "m'aider." The signal NC, not followed by a message, also has the same meaning.

‘SOS’:

The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea | Date: 2006

‘SOS’, at one time the internationally agreed wireless distress call made by a ship requiring help at sea. It came into force on 1 July 1908 and is still one of the distress signals which can be used by a vessel requiring urgent assistance. The three letters were chosen because they were easy to read and make in Morse code—three dots, three dashes, three dots—but they did not stand for ‘Save Our Souls’, as is often thought. The first ‘SOS’ to be broadcast was in August 1909 when the American steamer Azaoahoe was disabled with a broken propeller shaft. See also global maritime distress and safety system; mayday; signals at sea.

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Answer 7

SOS doesn't mean either of those.

The letters SOS were chosen because they are very easy to send and very easy to recognise.

"dot dot dot dash dash dash dot dot dot"

The use of "SOS" was preceded by "CQD."

In England a general call on the landline wire was a "CQ." "CQ" was generally adopted by telegraph and cable stations all over the world.

In 1904, the Marconi company suggested the use of "CQD" for a distress signal. It is a general call, "CQ," followed by "D," meaning distress.

At the second Berlin Radiotelegraphic Conference 1906 SOS was adopted.

The thinking was that (SOS) three dots, three dashes and three dots could not be misinterpreted.  

It was to be sent together as one string, ...---...

The Marconi Yearbook of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony , 1918 states, "This signal [SOS] was adopted simply on account of its easy radiation and its unmistakable character. There is no special signification in the letter themselves, and it is entirely incorrect to put full stops between them [the letters]."

All the popular interpretations of "SOS," "Save or Ship," "Save Our Souls," or "Send Out Succour" are simply not valid. Stations hearing this distress call were to immediately cease handling traffic until the emergency was over and were likewise bound to answer the distress signal.

Although the use of "SOS" was officially ratified in 1908, the use of "CQD" lingered for several more years.