A countrywide search has started to find artefacts taken by collectors over many years from the site of the first recorded shipwreck on the South African coast. The artefacts from the Portuguese vessel, Sao Joao, will be gathered together and used to mount an exhibition to mark the 450th anniversary of the wreck.

The exhibition will be held at Port Edward, near the wreck site, and is being organised by a local conservationist, historian and potter Jo Arkell. She will also publish a commemorative booklet to mark the anniversary.

Arkell has appealed to collectors who have artefacts from the wreck site to telephone her on (039) 313-1672.