More people drowned in vine than in sea!

This is probably wise old saying, or just came out from this wise old head. I couldn't tell for sure, I heard it from this funny old guy for the first time and he said that like that he did it a milion times before. I asked my grandma about that saying and she told me that her father used to say that and she haven't heard it for decades.
I was passing through the city market in the early morning and some old guys were drinking vine on the terrace of some creepy, neglected bar. They were pretty drunk already in the morning and this dude was passing by. They obviously know the guy and they called him to join them. He smiled and said:
"More people drowned in vine than in sea!"

Let's explore the roots of this wise old saying.

This is a city of sailors. In this time, sailing is not so popular as before, but still many young people work on ocean-going ships. But much more people worked as sailors in our past. Everybody is a friend with the sea here and many of those older folks traveled through the whole world. Many, many people found their new homes on some other coasts. And many died on the ship or drowned in the sea.

If you work on the sea, you are probably absent from your country 6-8 months, then you are home for 3-4 months. Some 50 years ago, tours were lasting for a year or two. So, you can stay normal so long on the sea without taking some drinks. Jolly crew of sailors was always under influence of alcohol. When those sailors were retired, they just continued with drinking and much more of them died of alcohol than of the sea.

I found a data that every day 10 people die from unintentional drowning and more of 150 from alcohol. These 150 deaths are caused by sickness from alcohol and by many different accidents also caused by alcohol.

It is interesting how these old wise sayings don't have expiring date!

Thank you!