Press gang

Press Gangs are heavily armed groups of Boatswain's Mates and Armsmen typically led by a Midshipman who are tasked with maintaining a ship's complement through the ancient and reviled tradition of the press. Press gangs from ships of His Divine Majesty's Navy can legally press men from any ship they see fit, including other navy vessels. Free Trader and Rogue Trader press gangs prey on one another, along with the crews of smaller independent ships, pirates, and those vessels of planetary navies, but are prohibited from pressing men from Imperial Navy ships under penalty of death.