UK Archives Unearth Lost US Declaration of Independence After 250 Years

A lost copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence has been unearthed in British government vaults nearly 250 years after the Royal Navy seized it as a wartime prize.

The document represents only the 11th known surviving copy from a specific print run originating in Exeter, New Hampshire.

Printers produced this batch between July 16 and 19, 1776.

A volunteer archivist at the U.K. National Archives, Michael Scurr, located the historic paper in May.

The discovery occurred as the institution accelerated its cataloging of Revolutionary War archives ahead of the document’s 250th anniversary this Saturday.

The famed passage asserting a right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” remains legible on the carefully conserved sheet.

Naval Intercept

The manuscript's journey to London began as an intelligence acquisition during naval combat.

On December 24, 1776, the Royal Navy vessel Raisonable captured the Dalton, an American privateer ship, off the coast of Cape Finisterre in northwestern Spain.

The Dalton had departed Portsmouth, New Hampshire, earlier in November.

Historical records suggest Captain Eleazer Johnson acquired the declaration copy there before setting sail.

The interception marked the first capture of an American privateer in European waters during the conflict.

Consequently, the Dalton was the first vessel directed back to a British port rather than British-occupied New York.

Intelligence Transfer

Captain Thomas Fitzherbert of the Raisonable forwarded the captured files to the Admiralty headquarters in London.

Amanda Bevan, head of legal records at the National Archives, noted that Fitzherbert likely dispatched the documents as actionable maritime intelligence.

The declaration was bundled alongside a set of U.S. naval rules of engagement.

Archivists also discovered a commission authorizing the Dalton’s operations, bearing the signature of John Hancock.

Scurr found the primary text after reviewing a letter from Fitzherbert to the Admiralty that referenced specific "enclosures."

Archival Preservation

The document languished unnoticed for centuries, largely because it remained attached to Fitzherbert’s personal dispatch papers rather than entering the standard Admiralty Court ledger.

Historian Graham Moore categorized the Exeter print as an exceptionally rare find within the institution's holdings.

The precise Admiralty Court logs documenting the Dalton's capture provide this specific copy with a more comprehensive provenance than most surviving prints.

The National Archives displayed the item to journalists this week.

Following further conservation, administrators plan to incorporate the piece into the "Revolution 250" exhibition, alongside an original July 4 Dunlap Broadside.