A volunteer at Britain‘s National Archives has discovered what researchers have since identified as a rare early copy of the United States Declaration of Independence, according to the National Archives cited by Associated Press. The document was said to be found tucked inside the papers of a Royal Navy captain who captured an American ship on Christmas Eve in 1776. Michael Scurr, a retired insurance executive who has been volunteering at the archives every Thursday morning for 11 years, reportedly made the find last May while going through the correspondence of an 18th-century Royal Navy captain. Attached to a report on the capture of the American privateer vessel Dalton was an enclosure described only as “another paper.” “I thought, oh, right, OK, this is definitely a Declaration of Independence,” Scurr told the Associated Press. “How exciting is this?” The document is one of only 11 known copies of a rare 1776 printing, and the only one found outside the United States According to the National Archives, researchers identified the document as one of just 11 known original copies of what is called the Exeter printing of the Declaration of Independence. This version was printed in Exeter, New Hampshire, between July 16 and 19, 1776, just days after what actually happened on July 4th, 1776, when the original was signed. The National Archives said it is the only copy of this printing identified outside the United States. The National Archives announced the find on Thursday, ahead of the 250th anniversary of American independence this weekend. The document was printed to spread the news that 13 North American colonies had broken away from Britain, according to the institution. Amanda Bevan, head of the National Archives’ project to catalog the correspondence of Royal Navy captains during the American Revolution, said what makes this discovery significant is not just the age of the document. It was found aboard a vessel operating under the direction of the newly formed Continental Congress, with orders signed by its president, John Hancock, she said. Bevan said the discovery also sheds light on a lesser-known part of the Revolutionary War. While much public attention has gone to the hardships faced by the Continental Army at places like Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, she noted that the Americans who went to sea to disrupt British trade and take on the Royal Navy have received far less attention. Finding the declaration on the ship also suggests how it may have been used, according to Bevan. She believes the Dalton’s captain likely read his orders aloud to the crew, as was common practice, and possibly the declaration itself as well. “They know why they’re fighting, but this puts it in a language which makes it greater than them,” she said. “They’re not fighting because they’re aggrieved in particular. They’re fighting for an ideal. And I think that just to find the declaration in a theater of war where people are committing themselves to fight for their country on the wide ocean is really something special.” The AP report says that the Dalton was a privately owned 18-gun vessel that operated as a privateer under the authority of the Continental Congress. Captain Thomas Fitzherbert, commanding the 64-gun HMS Raisonnable, chased the Dalton for seven hours on Christmas Eve 1776 before capturing it off the coast of Portugal. The Dalton’s crew of around 120 men was subsequently imprisoned in Plymouth, England, under what historical accounts describe as harsh conditions. One crew member, Charles Hebert, who was 19 years old at the time of his capture, kept journals during more than two years of captivity in which he described hunger, illness, and repeated punishment. He was eventually released in a prisoner exchange. Historians in the United States have also responded to the discovery. Matthew Skic, director of collections and exhibitions at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, said the document serves as a direct link to the Dalton’s captain, who carried news of American independence across the ocean. “It’s not just a document, it’s an artifact,” Skic said. “It’s a tangible connection to the past, because holding that piece of paper in the archivist’s hand today is a way to transport us back to 1776. The baton being passed, in a way.” Readers curious about where the Declaration of Independence is currently housed may find additional context on its long journey. Skic also said the find is proof that the historical record of the American Revolution is still not complete. “Even though 250 years has gone by, we still do not know everything about the American Revolution, and there are still finds left to be discovered,” he said.