The Seven Seas

 

In the nineteenth century the Clipper Ship Tea Route from China to England was the longest trade route in the world.

This route took sailors through seven seas near the Dutch East Indies: the Banda Sea, the Celebes Sea, the Flores Sea, the Java Sea, the South China Sea, the Sulu Sea, and the Timor Sea.

So, the Seven Seas, in these quarters and during these times, referred to those seas, and if someone had sailed the Seven Seas it meant he had sailed to, and returned from, the other side of the world.