I'm not claimimg to be an expert in anything here, so please don't jump on me but - I remember reading that once, when Nelson returned to Burnham Thorpe, he was appalled at the conditions that he saw farm labourers were living in. When you consider what conditions were like in the Navy, what on earth were they like in late C18th / early C19th Norfolk, if Nelson felt so strongly about it.

Also, unless there was a 'hot press' (ie if there was a real urgent need for a lot of men, such as in 1803/4 after the Treaty of Amiens had failed - during which lots of sailors had been discharged) the press gangs really only wanted men with experience of the sea. A crew of landsmen were not what they were looking for. In a hot press, however, this all went to the wall and even many 'reserved occupations' (correct terminology escapes me) were fair game.