Sentence:  Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to <WSD>grab</WSD> hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To grip suddenly; to seize; to clutch.