SMCP in plain words: Mayday and Pan-Pan, message markers, helm and engine orders, and interview questions

SMCP is the English a ship actually runs on: the phrases the pilot, the VTS operator and the officer of the watch use so that a Filipino helmsman, a Ukrainian chief officer and a Dutch traffic centre understand each other the first time, over a bad VHF line. STCW requires every officer of the watch to know them, the Marlins and CES tests check them, and a master often tests them in the first minutes on board. This page is a phrase reference rather than an English course: how SMCP is built, the message markers, numbers, positions and times, MAYDAY, PAN-PAN and SÉCURITÉ, the standard wheel and engine orders, the phrases for berthing and anchoring, the mistakes that cause misunderstandings, and questions to test yourself.

What SMCP is

The IMO Assembly adopted the Standard Marine Communication Phrases in November 2001 by resolution A.918(22), replacing the Standard Marine Navigational Vocabulary of 1977. The idea is the one aviation adopted long before: a simplified English with fixed phrases, one meaning per phrase, no synonyms and no contractions, built for people whose first language is something else and for radio links that lose half the syllables.

STCW makes it a requirement. The competence table for officers in charge of a navigational watch (A-II/1) asks for English good enough to use charts and publications, to understand weather and safety messages, to communicate with other ships, coast stations and VTS centres and with a multilingual crew — "including the ability to use and understand the IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases". Ratings forming part of a watch must understand orders and make themselves understood on watchkeeping matters, which on most ships means in English.

SMCP has two parts:

• Part A — what STCW requires: external communications (distress, urgency and safety traffic, search and rescue, VTS) and the on-board phrases used with a pilot on the bridge, including the standard wheel and engine orders.
• Part B — the rest of life on board: berthing and anchoring, tugs, drills, damage and fire, cargo, passenger care.

A general section in front of both sets out the procedure — spelling, numbers, positions, message markers and the standard answers.

Key numbers

The message markers

In ship-to-shore traffic, and especially with VTS, a message can begin with a marker that says what kind of message it is. The marker is said first, then the message:

• INSTRUCTION — "Instruction. Do not overtake." Comes from an authority, such as a VTS centre or a naval vessel. The recipient must follow it, unless there are safety reasons against it, which are then reported to the sender.
• ADVICE — "Advice. Stand by on VHF channel one-two." Not obligatory, but to be considered very carefully.
• WARNING — "Warning. Obstruction in the fairway." Information about a danger; the listener takes note at once.
• INFORMATION — "Information. My present speed is one-two knots." Facts only.
• QUESTION — "Question. What is your present draft?"
• ANSWER — "Answer. My present draft is one-one decimal five metres." The reply to a question.
• REQUEST — "Request. I require two tugs." Asks for action or assistance — not for information; that is a question.
• INTENTION — "Intention. I will reduce my speed." Announces your own navigational action.

The standard answers

• Yes / No — never alone: "Yes, I will reduce speed." "No, I will not enter the fairway." A full sentence, because over a bad line a lonely "yes" tells nobody what was agreed.
• Stand by — the information is not ready yet; give the time: "Stand by — five minutes."
• No information — it cannot be obtained.
• Unable to comply — and the reason: "Unable to comply. Engine broken down."
• Say again — the message was not heard properly. Message not understood — heard, but not understood.
• Mistake … correction — to correct yourself: "My present speed is one-four knots — mistake. Correction: my present speed is one-two, one-two knots."
• Repeat — to stress a vital part: "Do not overtake — repeat — do not overtake."
• Over — I have finished and expect a reply. Out — the conversation is over. "Over and out" contradicts itself.

SMCP also avoids "may" and "can", which blur permission and possibility. Instead of "May I enter the fairway?": "Question. Do I have permission to enter the fairway?" — "Answer. Yes, you have permission to enter the fairway."

Numbers, positions and times

• Numbers are spoken digit by digit: 150 is "one-five-zero", 2.5 is "two decimal five" (or "two point five"). The one exception is the rudder angle in wheel orders: "starboard fifteen", not "one-five".
• Pronunciation: ZEERO, WUN, TOO, TREE, FOWER, FIFE, SIX, SEVEN, AIT, NINER. TREE, FIFE and NINER exist because "three", "five" and "nine" are the digits most often misheard.
• Courses and bearings — always three figures in the 360-degree notation from north, true unless stated otherwise: "course zero-four-five". Relative bearings are given from the bow: "the buoy is zero-three-zero degrees on your port bow".
• Positions — latitude and longitude in degrees and minutes, with north or south and east or west; or a bearing and distance from a well-defined mark, saying whether the bearing is from the mark or from the ship.
• Distances in nautical miles or cables, always with the unit. Speed in knots — through the water unless "over the ground" is said.
• Times in UTC, 24-hour, four figures: "one-four-three-zero UTC". Local time only when said so, typically in port.

Spelling uses the phonetic alphabet: Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu. Ship names and call signs are spelt when there is any doubt: "I spell: Kilo-India-Lima-Oscar".

MAYDAY, PAN-PAN and SÉCURITÉ

• MAYDAY — distress: the ship or a person is in grave and imminent danger and needs immediate assistance. The call: MAYDAY three times, "this is" and the ship's name three times, call sign and MMSI. The message: MAYDAY, the name, call sign and MMSI, the position, the nature of the distress, the assistance required, the number of persons on board and any other information — then OVER.
• PAN-PAN — urgency: an urgent message about the safety of the ship or a person, but no grave and imminent danger — an engine failure near a lee shore, a seriously injured crew member who needs medical advice.
• SÉCURITÉ (say-cure-ee-tay) — safety: a navigational or meteorological warning — a buoy off station, a drifting container, a gale warning.

Each is said three times before the call. The words come from French — "m'aider" (help me), "panne" (breakdown) and "sécurité" (safety).

The distress phrases themselves are short and fixed: "I am on fire." "I am flooding." "I have collided with …" "I am aground." "I am listing — danger of capsizing." "I am sinking." "I am disabled and adrift." "I am abandoning vessel." "Person overboard." "I require assistance." "I require medical assistance."

During distress traffic the station controlling it can impose radio silence with SEELONCE MAYDAY. PRUDONCE means restricted working may resume; SEELONCE FEENEE means the distress traffic is over. Channel 16 is for distress, urgency, safety and calling — once contact is made, switch to a working channel: "Switch to VHF channel one-four."

Wheel and engine orders

Wheel orders:

• "Midships" — rudder amidships.
• "Port five", "port ten", "port fifteen", "port twenty", "port twenty-five", "hard-a-port" — and the same to starboard.
• "Ease to five", "ease to ten", "ease to fifteen", "ease to twenty" — reduce the rudder angle to that figure.
• "Steady" — reduce the swing as quickly as possible. "Steady as she goes" — steer the course on the compass at the moment of the order.
• "Steer one-two-three" — a course to steer, in three figures.
• "Nothing to port" / "nothing to starboard" — do not let the ship go to that side of the ordered course.
• "Keep the buoy on port side", "Report if she does not answer the wheel", "Finished with wheel — no more steering".

The helmsman repeats every wheel order, the officer makes sure it has been carried out correctly and at once, and each order stands until it is countermanded. If the ship does not answer the wheel, the helmsman reports it immediately.

Engine orders: full ahead, half ahead, slow ahead, dead slow ahead, stop engine, dead slow astern, slow astern, half astern, full astern, emergency full ahead, emergency full astern; stand by engine; finished with engine. On ships with two engines the engine is named first: "starboard engine half astern". Engine orders are repeated back too.

Berthing, anchoring and the pilot

• Berthing: "Stand by forward / aft." "Send out the head line / stern line / spring." "Heave in." "Slack away." "Hold on." "Make fast." "Single up to one head line and one spring forward." "Let go." "All fast" — the ship is secured.
• Anchoring: "Stand by port anchor." "Let go port anchor." "Walk out the anchor." "How is the cable leading?" — "The cable is leading ahead / astern / up and down." "The anchor is holding." "The anchor is dragging." "Heave up." "The anchor is aweigh."
• Pilot: "Pilot ladder rigged on starboard side, one metre above water." "What is your present draft?" "My maximum draft is eight decimal five metres."

Lookouts report in the same terms: what they see, where — right ahead, on the port bow, abeam to starboard — and how far, if they can judge it.

What they ask at the interview

• Officers: the message markers and when each is used; a MAYDAY message for a given situation, said aloud; the difference between PAN-PAN and SÉCURITÉ; how to give a position and a time; what to do when a VTS instruction conflicts with safety; how to correct yourself on the radio.
• Ratings: the wheel orders — usually played or spoken, and you repeat and explain them; the engine orders; mooring and anchoring commands; a lookout report.
• Everyone: an interview in English about your last ship, your duties and an emergency you took part in. The tests — Marlins and CES — check SMCP vocabulary and listening.

Common mistakes

1. Reading numbers as whole numbers. "Fifteen" and "fifty" are a frequent mix-up on a noisy channel; "one-five" and "five-zero" never are.
2. "Left" and "right" instead of "port" and "starboard" — and "rudder fifteen" without a side.
3. A bare "OK" or "yes" instead of a full answer.
4. Local time, kilometres or a bearing without saying whether it is true or relative.
5. Not repeating wheel orders, or repeating them without carrying them out.
6. "May I…?" and "Can you…?" instead of "Question. Do I have permission…?" and "Request…".
7. Conversations on channel 16, and "over and out".

Test yourself

Who on board needs this

Every officer of the watch — the third and second officer, the chief officer and the master, who talks to pilots and VTS; the able seaman and the ordinary seaman at the wheel and on lookout; the bosun on the forecastle; and the deck cadet, whose first real test it often is. Why maritime English matters and how to improve it is in the guide Maritime English and SMCP; the tests that check it in the Marlins test and the CES test. The radio side of distress traffic — DSC, channels, false alerts — is in GMDSS in plain words.

Put your English level and test results into your maritime CV — crewing managers look for them first.

Source: IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases (resolution A.918(22)) and STCW table A-II/1. Your ship's procedures and the master's standing orders prevail on board. This page is a study aid, not a legal text.