NATIONAL TREASURE

Rare Copy of Declaration of Independence Is Discovered After 250 Years

The papers were among a cache understood to have been seized by British sailors as the American Revolutionary War raged.

Archivists in the United Kingdom have unearthed a rare copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence nearly 250 years after it was seized by British sailors during the American Revolutionary War. A volunteer at the National Archives in London reportedly spotted the document, thought to have been taken during the capture of a U.S. vessel off the coast of Spain in December 1776, while reviewing records earlier in May. “I found this folded sheet, and there it was,” Michael Scurr, the volunteer, said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.” Graham Moore, who works as a historian at the archives, called it a “very rare find” and added that “there are very small numbers for all the different early printings.” The document itself is thought to be just one of 11 surviving copies printed in New Hampshire weeks after the original Declaration was signed in Philadelphia. News of its discovery comes one day before the 250th anniversary of the occasion.