請教英語翻譯淹死在海里是drown in sea 還是 at sea 為什么

In an introduction to The Flight of Gemma Hardy,a saga responds to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre which is wrriten by Margot Livesey,there are lines quote like this"When her widower father drowns at sea, Gemma Hardy is taken from her native Iceland to Scotland to live with her kind uncle and his family."

As you see, both drown in the sea and drown at sea?are correct. It depends on what you want to emphasize, the spot or the reason of the death.