Page 66 - Patrick Moreau - Marine Knots How to Tie 40 Essential Knots

If the knot will be under considerable stress, you can decrease the tension on it
by adding a half hitch at the beginning.
This way, the stress will be distributed between the two half hitches.

1 and 2 - The knot follows the same logic as the two wrapped half hitches that are one on top of the other.
After the curve of the final eye, the working end comes back over the cross to finish under, with the
long part of the strand creating the eye.