The National Archives unveiled today that volunteer Michael Scurr discovered an Exeter printing of the Declaration of Independence attached to 1776 Royal Navy papers and confirmed it is the only Exeter copy outside the US.Conservators said the broadside, printed in Exeter, New Hampshire between July 16 and 19 and captured aboard the privateer Dalton after a seven-hour chase by HMS Raisonnable, requires urgent conservation and will be digitised for study.Researchers said the find underscores the naval and privateer role in spreading the Declaration, links
John Hancock's commissions to operational outreach, and suggests further significant material may remain in eighteenth-century naval catalogues.