 Land telegraphs had adopted the convention of using "CQ" ("""", from the French word "") to identify alert, or precautionary messages of interest to all stations along a telegraph line.CQ had then been adopted in maritime radiotelegraphy as a "general call" to any ship or land station.In landline use there was no general emergency signal, so the Marconi company added a "D" ("distress") to CQ in order to create a distress call.