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Sailing the Seven Seas?
Question by Ethan Gelber

The Question:

Yar! Avast ye swabs. It's time to spin out to the brig, for 'tis a fine day for a sail, 'tis.

Fans of author Patrick O'Brian and his incredible Aubrey-Maturin duo, or any of the great tales of maritime wonder, will have heard tell of the seven seas. Even kids sing silly songs that sometimes make mention of these fabled bodies of water. But have you ever wondered what they actually are, these seven seas? We have.

Can you name them?

The Answer:

North Atlantic Ocean
South Atlantic Ocean
North Pacific Ocean
South Pacific Ocean
Arctic Ocean
Antarctic (Southern) Ocean
Indian Ocean

There sure was a lot of difference of opinion about this, but we stand by this answer. Yes, there are many seas in the world, and yes, depending on whom you spoke to and when and where they lived (the Greeks, the explorers of the Age of Discovery, sailors of modern time), you would get different answers. It's like asking what the one and only"tri-state area" is.

Nevertheless, as more than a few people pointed out, there really is one famous version of the seven seas, popularized by Rudyard Kipling at the end of the 19th century. It was not meant literally nor did it refer to specific seas (as opposed to oceans). Rather, it was the notion of all the great oceans of the world. If a sailor had "sailed the seven seas," it meant that he had been around the world and necessarily hit the seven major bodies of water mentioned above.

The Winners:

Our first five winners this week are: Trina Burke, Jeff Lonard, Robert Anderson, Rosemarie Maziar, and Carlos A. Pareja. Others with the correct response were: Gaetano Auricchio, Steve Yates, Dale Richesin, Molly Brunner, Karen Newton, Joyce Bogoian, Cheryl Hobley, Michael Lesniak, Brian Konnerth, Ed Berkowitz, Jennifer Brumfield, Steve Schuler, Matt Andrews, and Kevin Elliott.

Special creative mentions go out to Omar Hassan for guessing, literally, "Sea 1, Sea 2, Sea 3 . . .," and to Caitlin for her "CCCCCCC [the 7 Cs]."

Other seas mentioned in people's lists and certainly in some seven relevant seas lists for the above-mentioned different people in different places from different times include: Adriatic, Aegean, East African, West African, Arabian, Aral, Bali, Baltic, Banda, Bering, Black, Caribbean, Caspian, Celebes, China, East China, South China, Coral, Dead, Flores, Java, Maluka, Mediterranean, North, Persian Gulf, Red, and Yellow.

THANKS for your contributions!