Interestingly, article fails to mention John Harrison [1], the inventor of marine chronometer. There was a rivalry between Maskelyne and him, one considering lunar positions to be the best method to solve longitude problem, and the other believing that the accurate timepiece is the answer. You may say that Harriosn won at the end, but it was kind of bitter victory.
Article quotes praise from Cook, but on next voyages Cook also tested chronometers made according to Harrison's design and praised them as well.
If you are into this stuff there is a book "Longitude" by Dava Sobel.
"Longitude" is a great book as an introduction, but it doesn't let historical accuracy get in the way of a good story. It's biased against Maskelyne, and gives undue attention to crazy ideas (about how to determine longitude) that were ridiculed at the time.
Her other book, "Galileo's Daughter", is just like that. Drama and story above facts.
Harrison won the the "X-Prize" money in the end. He spent decades perfecting his watches. H4 was the version that one. I took some inspiration from his persistence when I named my mobile software company h4labs.
Indeed, Cook says "My trusty friend, the watch" in reference to using Harrison's clock (or at least, the first copy of it - K1) during his second voyage.
