Charley, much as I respect Stan Hugill's experience, I think he was rationalizing in this case - trying to find a special seagoing meaning for a phrase that didn't have one.

Which is *not at all* to say that the actions described were imaginary - just that I don't see hauling a cable in relay fashion being described routinely as "rolling and going." It sounds like a big stretch, particularly since no writer, including Hugill himself, seems to use the phrase that way in a sentence.

And that's how I roll, dude.