If there were 1100 guys on the ship and it sank, then 1100 guys went into the water.
If you go down with the ship, you went into the water.
Ummmm, I gotta go with Ice on this one. Everyone went in the water, alive, dead, with the ship or jumped off, they all went in the water.
Edit: Well, it seems Shaw's story could mean he thought that all of them went in the water possibly and therefore his phrasing. I've looked around and the phrase does not normally include those who did not get off the ship, but it was Shaw telling the story so it's his interpretation of the phrase that would really count in this case.