The effect of refraction is seen when an oar is thrust into the water and looks as if it were bent.
"Lectures in Navigation"
Ernest Gallaudet Draper
He it was who first taught her to hold an oar; and, seated beside him, she first learned to steer a "corragh" through the wild waves of the Atlantic.
"The Martins Of Cro' Martin, Vol. II (of II)"
Charles James Lever
So excited were the Eskimos that they could hardly pull an oar.
"My Attainment of the Pole"
Frederick A. Cook