ultramarin marine translations
ultramarin.online
nl strijken   een (roei-)boot achteruit laten varen door de riemen te strijken, of met de riemen vooruit te roeien;  
de streichen
zurückschlagen 		ein (Ruder-)Boot rückwärts bewegen, indem man mit den Riemen vorwärts rudert;
en to hold water
to back astern
to back oars
to back water		 to drive a boat backward by pushing the oars through the water in a forward direction;
fr nager à culer
scier
faire marcher contre 		 
es ciar  
it    
     
en "We had been on board the little Spanish brig, and were returning, stretching out well at our oars, the little boat going like a swallow; our backs were forward, (as is always the case in pulling,) and the captain, who was steering, was not looking ahead, when, all at once, we heard the spout of a whale directly ahead. “Back water! back water, for your lives!" shouted the captain ; and we backed our blades in the water and brought the boat to in a smother of foam. Turning our heads, we saw a great, rough, humpbacked whale, slowly crossing our fore foot, within three or four yards of the boat's stem. Had we not backed water just as we did, we should inevitably have gone smash upon him, striking him with our stem just about amidships."
R.H. Dana, Two Years Before the Mast, p. 169ff.