ABSTRACT
The Guiney family had this story from a great-grandfather named Mahney (originally, my informant thinks, probably Mahoney) as an explanation of how he arrived in Newfoundland.
Mahney came out from Ireland — stowed away on a ship and hid in a puncheon. When the ship got about halfway across, the sailors discovered him and threw the puncheon, with Mahney in it, overboard. He drifted ashore in Freshwater, Seal's Cove -- “Siles Cove” it was then — about a mile and a half from our place [Cappahayden]. He was on the beach for I don't know how many days. At last a fox came along, and stuck his tail into the bunghole of the cask. Mahney grabbed the fox's tail. The fox took off up over the cliff, the cask burst open and Mahney got out and settled in Freshwater.
