The press gang (a group of heavies lead by an officier from a Royal Navy cutter stationed in one of the ports) would forcibly detain those on shore - apparently a more common technique in Manx waters to take men off the fishing boats (they were obviously used to the sea whereas shore men might not be). Some men (married with young children etc) were supposedly exempt but it seems doubtful if the navy really worried about niceities at this time. Men were press ganged until the end of the Napoleonic wars - after thsi with the need for so many men gone the Navy could afford to rely on volunteers.