Which call when
MAYDAY — grave and imminent danger to life or to the vessel: fire, flooding, a man overboard, loss of control close to shore.
PAN-PAN — urgency without immediate danger to life: a dead engine, an injury, a leak that is under control.
SÉCURITÉ — a safety message: a floating object, a lost container, a danger to others.
How to transmit
The template opens from the phrasebook, section “Distress calls”. The screen leads you line by line:
1The threefold call and the name of the vessel.
2The call sign and the position — filled in from GPS; if there is no fix, the app says so and the coordinates are read off the plotter.
3What has happened — chosen from a list.
4How many people are on board, including you.
5What you need and what you are doing about it.
The “Next line” button keeps the pace: read slowly and clearly. After transmitting, stay on channel 16 and wait for an answer — the screen reminds you of this and will not close by accident.
The calls work offline: the coordinates come from the last fix and the texts live on the device.