Overview
- A volunteer cataloguer at Britain’s National Archives found the broadside tucked into an 18th‑century Royal Navy captain’s correspondence, where it was labeled “another paper” and later identified as an Exeter printing.
- The Archives say the sheet is one of roughly 11 known Exeter copies and the only one located outside the United States, and they have publicly unveiled the find ahead of the 250th anniversary.
- Researchers linked the item to the capture of the Continental privateer Dalton, seized off Portugal on Dec. 24, 1776, and to orders bearing John Hancock’s signature, tying the paper to wartime naval operations.
- Historians and museum officials called the discovery a tangible link to 1776 that shows how the Declaration was used as wartime propaganda and instruction for crews, and personal journals from Dalton prisoners underscore the human cost of privateering.
- The find creates new research opportunities about transatlantic circulation of revolutionary texts and is likely to prompt further study, potential loans or displays, and renewed public interest as semiquincentennial events and oversight inquiries continue.