Probably the rum also killed all kinds of stuff in contaminated water also. Win, win.
In the 70's I spent 4 years in Pt Hope, a remote Arctic village, on a spit with sea nearby on 3 sides, at an elevation of about 10 feet. In the summer water was brackish from wherever they got it from - I didn't spend much time there then, and in winter we hauled ice from an inland lake 8 miles away.
In the time I was here I was the only person to my knowledge that never came down with Hepatitus and jaundice. I never drank water that wasn't boiled, or without a shot of booze in it and left sitting for a minute or more.
My wife claims I was Hepatitus Larry, however.....
