First Destroyer Flotilla and volunteer wording

The First Destroyer Flotilla's October 1919 Baltic orders exposed an ambiguity in the government's promise to send only volunteers. Sailors understood this to mean volunteers for the Baltic, while the government meant men who had volunteered for naval service. The code phrase "My name's Walker" indicates some chief petty officer organization behind the protest. At Port Edgar in Scotland, 150 sailors left their posts, and roughly 50 or slightly fewer set out to march to London with petitions for Whitehall. Of the 150, 96 were arrested and punished, with 10 receiving imprisonment. Lesser penalties for the others are suggested to have included lost good-conduct badges or restricted service, rather than identified with certainty. The limited imprisonment and the 54 who escaped punishment show how narrowly the authorities handled the episode.