A British Warship Chased an American Ship for 7 Hours on Christmas Eve 1776 and Captured It. Onboard was a copy of the Declaration of Independence that had recently resurfaced in London

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A British Warship Chased an American Ship for 7 Hours on Christmas Eve 1776 and Captured It. Onboard was a copy of the Declaration of Independence that had recently resurfaced in London

BROOK MITCHELL / AFP via Getty Images

By Jerome London

Updated 14 minutes ago,
July 3, 2026

This paper remained folded inside a Royal Navy captain’s notebook for 250 years, filed away as “another paper” and forgotten. A retired insurance executive volunteering one Thursday morning opened it and saw a word written across the top: “Announcement.”

It is one of 11 extant copies of the Exeter printing of the Declaration of Independence, and the only one ever found outside the United States. A copy was printed in Exeter, New Hampshire, between July 16 and 19, 1776, days after the original was signed, to convey the news that the 13 colonies had broken away from Britain.

A 1776 printed copy of the American Declaration of Independence on display at the National Archives at Kew, London. — One of only 11 surviving copies of the “Exeter Declaration” from 1776 – and the first found outside the US – shown after its discovery at The National Archives at Kew, pictured on July 3, 2026. Credit: The National Archives/via REUTERS.

Michael Scurr discovered it while documenting at the British National Archives, where he has volunteered for 11 years. Included in the report is the capture of the Dalton, an 18-gun American privateer sailing under orders signed by John Hancock.

Captain Thomas Fitzherbert of the 64-gun HMS Raisonnable ran the Dalton down the coast of Portugal and took his crew of 120 prisoners. The men were held in Plymouth under harsh conditions, including Charles Hebert, who was 19 years old when he was captured and kept journals for more than two years before being released in a prisoner exchange.

A staff member looks at Dunlap's original broadside print of the American Declaration of Independence at The National Archives at Kew, London. — The Declaration of Independence printed by John Dunlap – on display at the National Archives in Kew, London ahead of the Revolution 250 exhibition – from the night of July 4, 1776. Photo by Brook Mitchell / AFP via Getty Images.

Amanda Bevan, who leads the Royal Navy captains’ archive project, believes the Dalton’s captain would have read the announcement aloud to his crew. “They don’t fight because they are being harassed. They fight for a cause,” he said.

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