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Rum Laundry

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The Myth

THIS MYTH WAS FEATURED IN...
Pirate MythsEpisode Title: Special 11: Pirate Special

Original air date:1/17/2007
Myth Title: Rum Laundry


Myth Description: Pirates used Rum to launder their clothes


MythBusters on the bust: Adam, Jamie and Karie


Hypothesis: Rum can clean clothes better than water


Procedure/Experimental Design: 1 foot square cloth (bleached embroidry cloth with thread count of 40) swatches were stained with Pigs Blood, Sweat and Pitch/Tar.

Adam runs on a treadmill in a fire suit in a hot room in an attempt to stain the cloth with sweat. However, the sweat did not stain the cloth nor did it cause the cloth to smell. The sweat stain was replaced with oranges.

Adam attempts to create an ammonia based cleaning agent by cooking urine. This is another reputed pirate laundry agent.

Cleaning agents tried are soap (made the old fashioned way), rum, cooked urine (see above) and modern detergent (with hydrogen peroxide)


Jamie is tasked with using the candidate cleaning agents on the swatches.

Karie is then invited to rate the cleaness of the swatches in a blind condition.

Results: Worst was rum. Stale urine was best for blood. Modern detergent was the best on the tar


Conclusion: Rum is ineffective as a cleaning agent.


Busted or Not Busted: Busted
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Highlights of the bust:

  • Adams french chef impersonation while cooking urine




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Threads

Anonymous  (Get credit for your thread)
Started By Thread Subject Replies Last Post
tfderrick Washing with Rum 1 Sep 3 2008, 11:58 PM EDT by amy_c
tfderrick
Thread started: Sep 3 2008, 9:31 PM EDT  Watch
Having been a sailor, No sailor in his right mind would waste his only source of water - the easy way to wash clothes at sea is to place them in a perforated bucket that can be sealed - and simply drag it over the side - be careful - seawater is abrasive and will "rub" away the cloth. I have seen it done - and over done...
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