[jotwebe]

Some of them didn't. It appears that a commander with a troop water breathing item (manual of waterbreathing, sea kings goblet) will die if unable to retreat to a friendly land province, while those with a ring or a shambler skin will be fine retreating into another water province. I'm not sure if that's only while they're actually leading something or not. So while it sucked to loose those guys, at least we all learned something.