Why higher company pay did not empty the Royal Navy

Did the East India Company's higher salaries cause a brain drain from the Royal Navy during the age of sail?

Not to a decisive degree; the Royal Navy offered higher senior rank, more prize-money opportunities, and greater martial prestige, while the company also needed merchant-mariner skills.

East India Company officers could advance, but not to the same senior naval ranks available in the Royal Navy. Royal Navy service also brought more chances for prize money and public glory. The company recruited heavily from the merchant marine because trade and commercial navigation were central to its mission. The two organizations therefore drew on overlapping but not identical career incentives and skill pools.