I was smart enough(?) to not exit the boat when the beavers were mauling me;
When I tried to respawn today, I was able to spawn at my hearthfire (because the boat is no longer on water)
If somebody has access to the wiki, please mention this.
Woohoo! I don't have to quit the game

But yeah, this game is harsh already, but this kind of one-way-to-hell doesn't seem quite fun.