SOS kit
Emergency on board
What to do when things get serious — and the drills you should know beforehand: emergency call, radio message, sound signals, lock checklist. Printing it and keeping it aboard is not a bad idea.
Immediately: 112
The 112 number works in Luxembourg, Germany and France alike and from any mobile, even without credit and without your own provider's network. Say where you are first — the Moselle kilometre is the best reference, otherwise the nearest village or lock.
Who comes
On the Luxembourg Moselle, help comes by water — from a joint base of the police and the CGDIS rescue service near Grevenmacher, above the lock at about km 213.6. The Police Grand-Ducale patrol boat lies there beside the rescue boat; a crane launches both when needed.
That is why the Moselle kilometre is the most useful position you can give — more useful than a place name, because it is unambiguous and is posted on the boards on both banks.
Photos: nautic.lu, August 2026
The five Ws
- Where? Moselle kilometre, bank, nearest lock or village
- What has happened?
- How many people are affected?
- What injuries or hazards?
- Wait for questions — do not hang up
Distress call by radio
Important: there is no channel 16 inland
Unlike at sea, inland waterway radio has no single distress and calling channel. The distress call goes first to the traffic centre on the Nautical Information channel — at 25 watts. Then, depending on the situation, a second call on channel 10 at no more than 1 watt, to reach and warn nearby shipping. The local traffic-centre channel is in the Inland Waterway Radio Handbook, which must be aboard radio-equipped vessels anyway.
MAYDAY — danger to life
Only for immediate danger to life or vessel: person overboard, fire, sinking, serious injury.
What you say
MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY This is BOAT NAME BOAT NAME BOAT NAME MAYDAY BOAT NAME My position: Moselle km …, … I have … (what has happened) I need … (what help) … persons on board OVER
PAN PAN — urgent, but no danger to life
When help is needed but nobody is in immediate danger: engine failure in the fairway, steering damage, debris in the propeller, medical advice needed.
What you say
PAN PAN PAN PAN PAN PAN This is BOAT NAME BOAT NAME BOAT NAME My position: Moselle km …, … I have … (what has happened) I need … (what help) OVER
SÉCURITÉ — safety message
A warning to others: debris, an extinguished buoy, an obstacle in the fairway, an approaching storm.
Calm, slow, twice
Speak more slowly than feels right. Important details — position, number of people — better twice. After transmitting, stay on receive and do not transmit until answered. No radio set? Call 112, that is perfectly fine.
The sound signals that matter
Short means one to two seconds, long four to six. Small craft may give these signals but are not obliged to — you should understand them all the same, because commercial vessels use them.
| Signal | Meaning |
|---|---|
| — | Attention |
| • | I am altering course to starboard |
| • • | I am altering course to port |
| • • • | My engine is going astern |
| • • • • | I am unable to manoeuvre |
| • • • • • | I cannot be overtaken |
| — • | I am turning to starboard |
| — • • | I am turning to port |
| •••••• | Risk of collision a series of very short blasts |
| — — — — | Distress signal — I need help a series of long blasts |
| • — • — | Keep-away signal — dangerous goods incident, keep clear short and long alternating, for at least 15 minutes |
Visually as well: by day a red flag, by night a red light waved in a circle. Both mean distress or inability to manoeuvre and are understood without a horn.
Lock checklist
Most damage to leisure boats happens not on open water but in the chamber. Run through this list before entering.
- Fenders out on both sides, low enough for the level after locking
- Bow and stern lines clear, coiled, within reach
- Everyone on deck wears a lifejacket — including those just watching
- Announce yourself by radio or use the self-service; respect the waiting berth
- Wait for the lights: two red means closed, red-green means shortly, green means enter
- Enter slowly, commercial traffic first
- Take lines around the bollards and hold them — never make them fast
- Engine running, nobody between boat and chamber wall
- Going up: take in the slack. Going down: pay out the lines
- Only leave when the gate is fully open and the signal allows it
The most common cause of damage and injury in the chamber is a line made fast. As the water rises or falls the boat hangs from it — it capsizes or the cleat tears out. Always keep the line in hand.
If something happens
Person overboard
- Shout so everyone knows
- Throw a floating aid at once — even if it lands wide, it marks the spot
- One person points at the spot continuously and looks nowhere else
- Engine to neutral as you approach — the propeller is the greatest danger
- Approach from leeward, recover alongside, not at the stern
- Cold water: recover horizontally, keep warm, call 112 even if the person seems fine
Fire on board
- Engine off, gas off, power off
- Everyone on deck, lifejackets on
- Keep the engine hatch shut if possible — oxygen feeds the fire. Use the extinguishing port if fitted
- Turn the boat so the wind carries the fire away from the rest
- Send a MAYDAY, head for the bank; abandoning is allowed — the boat is replaceable
Taking on water
- Find the leak: usually the stuffing box, a seacock, a hose clamp or a through-hull
- Bilge pump on, and use a bucket as well — a bucket moves more than most pumps
- Plug the hole with whatever you have: a conical bung, canvas, a cushion, a towel
- Head for shallow water — a grounded boat does not sink
- PAN PAN or MAYDAY, depending on whether the pump keeps up
Engine failure
- Immediately give four short blasts and drift out of the fairway if possible
- Get the anchor ready — even though anchoring is banned, an emergency takes priority
- PAN PAN on channel 10 so commercial traffic knows
- Only then look for the cause: fuel, filter, impeller, weed on the propeller
Grounding
- Do not immediately go full astern — first check whether water is coming in
- Shift weight to reduce draught
- On the Moselle the level rises and falls with lock operation — sometimes waiting is enough
- Check propeller and rudder before continuing
What belongs on board
Not a list of regulations, but what actually gets used when it matters.
- Lifejackets for everyone aboard, guests and children included
- Lifebuoy or throwing line, to hand and not stowed away
- A serviced fire extinguisher and a fire blanket in the galley
- First-aid kit with a survival blanket
- Bucket on a lanyard — bailer and extinguisher in one
- Torch with a red filter or a red cloth for signalling
- Anchor with enough chain and line
- Phone in a waterproof pouch, charged
- A conical bung at every through-hull — tied on, not in a drawer
This does not replace training
This page is a memory aid for people who have already learned the essentials. It replaces neither a safety course, nor the Inland Waterway Radio Handbook, nor the Moselle shipping police regulations. Only the official texts are binding. And the most important sentence appears in no paragraph: when in doubt, call for help once too early rather than once too late. A false alarm costs nothing but an explanation.