I think Gale's line refers to us lying on the beach, after the crash. I also think he's not being literal.

Originally Posted by timebean
There was a single mindflayer on a ship of dead mind flayers fighting dragons, githyanki, and demons.

We see two Mindflayers alive on the helm (the second is killed by imps in the cutscene that plays when we enter it).

I also assumed there's more to the ship than we explore during the tutorial.

Optimistically Apocalyptic