9-Track Magtape data Recovery Technique (Last Ditch!)

Hello all... This message is directed at those you who are actively performing data recovery on old 7-track and 9-track tapes. Last summer, just before I toasted my Prime, I was successful at reading data off tapes that were not previously readable (and by previously I mean MY attempts in the weeks prior to that night had failed). The tapes had been stored in a basement that flooded. Then, they were not recovered from the basement until it was pretty much dry (two years later). Oxide was falling off. There was lots of either mineral precipitate or some kinda lichens or fungus growing on the tape. I couldn't even read the label on one of them. I thought judicious cleaning of the tape head might help. I kept trying, no luck. Then I started to drink. As the alcohol took affect, I got a wild idea. My drive is a Cipher F880 streamer. You can slide it out of the rack tray, and if you enter the right sequence of button presses, you can unlock the front door, and even better, the top lid, which provides access to the tape path during operation. So, I took a cleaning swab, soaked it in cleaner (not Freon TF, and likely a poor substitute) and applied it against the tape, directly before the tape read head. It immediately stopped re-trying, and started streaming! When the swab would get dry, I'd pull it away, and almost immediately, the drive would start retrying until once again, I brought the wet swab against the tape. Doubtless, this is going to leave all kinds of crud on the tape path, and might even shorten the drive's life. But Cipher F880's are a dime a dozen; data on tapes a bit more rare. Has anyone else ever tried this? I know what you're thinking, flaky jerk, getting drunk and burning up vintage hardware. But it worked! I spent a few hours looking at the files to make sure they were intact; they were. I transferred some of them, but not all, as I don't have a transfer program to get stuff off the Prime right now (other than to simply list it and capture the listing). I have other tapes right now that I'd like read; I sent them to someone who tried, and they said they could not even read the first block, indicating that they might be 7-track instead of 9-track (possible). Anyway, there it is, bread cast upon the waters. With any luck at all, I'll get a sandwich out of it. Regards, -doug q