The following anecdote was posted to newf-l@lists.colorado.edu  and was contributed by Jack G. Voller <jvoller@siue.edu>:

Many folks can train their dogs to bring the newspaper in from the
front yard, but leave it to a Newf to get the paper when the
circumstances are just a bit trickier:

A 1902 book on the history of American merchant sailing tells the
following tale about  the Minot Ledge, a rock outcropping, submerged
at high tide, that was (and is) a threat to shipping headed into
Boston. After a storm in 1851 washed away the lighthouse that had
been built there just over a year earlier to warn passing ships of
the danger, a temporary "lightship" was anchored on the ledge until a
new lighthouse could be built:

"Then, for a time, a lightship tossed and tugged at its cables to
warn shipping away from Minot's Ledge. Old Bostonians may still
remember the gallant Newfoundland dog that lived on the ship, and,
when excursion boats passed, would plunge into the sea and swim
about, barking, until the excursionists would throw him tightly
rolled newspapers, which he would gather in his jaws, and deliver to
the lightship keepers to be dried for the day's reading."