A vanishingly rare copy of the Declaration of Independence has been discovered in London at Britain's National Archives. Michael Scurr, a volunteer cataloging 18th-century Royal Navy correspondence in Kew, west London, found the document in May. Previously listed in records simply as another document, the find was announced just as the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary.
The text is one of only 11 surviving copies of the so-called Exeter Declarations, printed in Exeter, New Hampshire, in mid-July 1776, and is the first of its kind found outside the United States. During the American colonies' revolutionary mood, supportive printers rushed to reproduce the founding document, famous for its rallying cry for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
This specific copy was carried by Eleazer Johnson, captain of the American privateer ship Dalton, who likely hoped the text would inspire his crew to fight for the new country. On December 24, 1776, the Royal Navy captured the Dalton off the coast of Portugal and brought the ship and its contents back to Plymouth. The document was attached to a report detailing the capture, as British captains were required to present a captured ship's documents to authorities to claim their share of the prize.
Graham Moore, a curator at the National Archives, stated that the bureaucratic processes of war allow for an unusually rich backstory that most surviving declarations lack. The document is the only known copy of the declaration taken by military action. With 3,600 ships seized by the British during the American Revolutionary War, the archives continue to serve as a fertile hunting ground for historians.