Cook's reports upon his return home put to rest the popular myth of Terra Australis.

Another accomplishment of the second voyage has been the successful employment of the Larcum Kendall K1 chronometer, which had enabled Cook to calculate his longitudinal position with much greater accuracy.

Cook's log is full of praise for the watch which he has used to make charts of the southern Pacific Ocean that are so remarkably accurate that copies of them will still be in use in the mid-twentieth century.

Cook is promoted to the rank of captain and given an honorary retirement from the Royal Navy, as an officer in the Greenwich Hospital.

His acceptance of the post is reluctant, as he insists that he be allowed to quit the post if the opportunity for active duty presents itself.

His fame now extends beyond the Admiralty and he is also made a Fellow of the Royal Society and awarded the Copley Gold Medal, painted by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, dines with James Boswell and described in the House of Lords as "the first navigator in Europe".

Cook's accounts of the large seal and whale populations help influence further exploration of the Southern Ocean from sealers in search of the mammals' valued skins.