Here is the history of SOS
SOS is known as a distress signal and here is the meaning behind this and how people started using this during emergencies.
This term has several meanings for some people. Some believed it stands for “save our souls.” For some, it means “save our ship.” However, these phrases are backronyms. This term means an acronym deliberately formed from a phrase whose initial letters spell out a particular word or words, either to create a memorable name or as a fanciful explanation of a word’s origin.
Based on the article in Mental Floss, these phrases do not stand for SOS. The signal is a continuous Morse code string of three dots, three dashes, and three dots all run together with no spaces or full stops (…—…).
Since three dots make “S” in Morse code and three dashes are equivalent to “O”, the signal was eventually given the SOS name, as it is more convenient. With this connection, the letters have become the face of the distress signal. People would sometimes spell out the letters on the ground in order to be seen above.
What is the logic behind this if dots and dashes do not mean specifically anything? The reason: It is the best way to get the job done.
Sailors in danger needed a way to attract attention, signal distress, and ask for help when wireless radiotelegraph machines first made their way onto ships around the turn of the 20th century. Sailors needed a unique signal so that they could transmit clearly and quickly and to avoid confusion with other communications.
Initially, countries and organizations have their own distress signals. U.S. Navy used “NC”, and Marconi Company, which leased its equipment and telegraph operators to various ships, used “CQD”.
Under the “German Regulations for the Control of Spark Telegraphy” of 1905, it was mandated that all German operators should use the “…—…”.
Multiple distress signals would not just create confusion but can also worsen the situation as other nations would not understand the distress call of another nation, and accidents could happen within other countries’ territories.
At the International Wireless Telegraph Convention in Berlin in 1906, Marconi’s “-.-.–.–..”, and “………-..-..-..” (“SSSDDD”), proposed by Italy was chosen. However, Germans “SOS” “…—…” could be sent quickly and easily. It was also hard to misinterpret the signal. Eventually, it was chosen to be the distress signal of nations that met at the conference.