Hello, you might be thinking of the phrase "to ship the oars". Shipping the oars means to place the oars in their "rowlocks" or "oarlocks" in order to get them ready for paddling. Rowlocks, also called oarlocks in American English apparently, are the U-shaped brackets on the side of a ship that hold the oars in place while in use (oars are different from paddles in this regard, paddles being held with both hands while in use, while oars are fixed directly to the ship). https://www.finedictionary.com/To%20ship%20the%20oars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowlock As another commenter said, it is nautical jargon that most speakers would need context clues to understand. I had heard the phrase before and thought I understood it, but inferred the wrong meaning and thought it meant the opposite, "to withdraw the oars into the boat after stopping paddling". I'm a native speaker and I only just now realized that I had the wrong idea when I researched this answer.

I am not quite sure but shifting means positioning it differently. Like moving it left to right or up and down. It is uncommon for this to be used in everyday english unless your around boats.

It has to do with placing the oars in a certain position to direct the boat in some way. However, at least in America, no one would know what that means. If someone from America heard that, they would simply assume it's boat talk, and not even ponder exactly what it means. Whatever the ship does once they "shift the oars," that's what it means.

This seems to be a term that is specific to rowing a boat. I have never seen it before. People who practice rowing as a sport will probably know the answer to your question. I did a little research on it, and it seems to mean rotating the oars or otherwise changing their position in order to move the boat in a different direction.

move