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 <WSD>strokes</WSD> and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A style, a single movement within a style.