For example, hauling in the upper topsail halyard will require a long, heavy pull; if the team is not to be exhausted halfway through then the leader must ensure that the pace is slow enough to be maintained throughout the job.
It is also not always necessary to use this method of hauling for the whole of a task; often, the first part of the job can be achieved with simple hand-over-hand pulling, switching over to a coordinated heave for the final tensioning.
In Britain it has a broader meaning and is often used in any situation where a coordinated pulling effort is required, often where maritime people are involved, but almost as frequently where 'civilians' are working together.
It also contains the first appearance of the popular unconfirmed theory that the phrase originated from Royal Navy gunners numbered 2 and 6, who supposedly, on this command, hauled the gun back for reloading.
[citation needed] People in the square rigged sailing community have proposed the idea that it could be a shortening of the French “tout de suite”, often anglicised colloquially to "toot sweet", which means 'immediately'.