Like many sea captains of the age, Pellew drew heavily on his home community and a wide circle of family and friends in order to man his ships. Although Pellew was born in Dover, his roots were planted firmly in Cornwall where his family originated and where he himself grew up. In the earlier part of his career, Pellew had particularly strong connections to Falmouth where the Western Squadron was based and where his own young family were born and raised. Although Pellew famously resorted to recruiting a band of Cornish tin miners to crew his first frigate, the Nymphe, he was able to draw many more promising recruits from the thriving port town of Falmouth.

The final cohort of the Indefatigable's young gentlemen fall roughly into two groups: those who were related to friends and family of Pellew, and those who belonged to the close-knit Falmouth maritime community. Like William Kempthorne, James Bray's father earned his living in the Falmouth packet service, though their family backgrounds could not have been more different. Bray's father, a surgeon in the packet service, belonged to a family of prominent Catholic clergy and scholars who held influential positions in both Ireland and France. William Warden's connection to Falmouth is rather more tangential; however, as he was the son of a Lisbon merchant, it is possible that his connection to Pellew came about via the Falmouth–Lisbon packet and the trade links it supported.

Throughout his life, Pellew had a reputation for promoting the sons of family, friends and influential patrons, often beyond their abilities, and in this regard the young gentlemen of the Indefatigable were no exception. In addition to carrying the names of his own two sons on the ship's books, he also accepted on board the son of his friend and fellow Cornish frigate commander, Robert Carthew Reynolds, along with a young relative of his wife, Susan Frowd, and another youngster with family connections to his closest friend and confidant, Alex Broughton. There is no question that Robert Reynolds junior and Philip Frowd were deserving of the confidence Pellew placed in them; both were gallant and enterprising young officers. Richard Delves Broughton, however, was a rather different kettle of fish; described by Pellew himself as an ‘odd fellow’, young Broughton had a short and turbulent naval career which ended with him being court martialled and dismissed the service.