A 221-year-old shipwreck discovered just 100m off Cape Town's Clifton beach could help rewrite the history of the slave trade in South Africa. So say several historians and archaeologists who yesterday gathered in Cape Town to present their collective findings on the São José-Paquete de Africa wreck.Over 200 slaves died, many probably still shackled, when the Portuguese slave ship sank after hitting rocks near Clifton beach in a storm in 1794. The 200 or so who survived were re-sold into slavery.The slaves were east African, captured in what is today Mozambique.The wreck, well known among local divers who have pillaged the site over the years, was not definitively identified until 2010 after extensive study involving both site dives and archival research in three countries.The study forms part of an international research collaboration, the Slaves' Wrecks project, involving the Smithsonian Natural Museum, in Washington.Paul Tichmann, curator of the Iziko Slave Lodge Museum, in Cape Town, said: "The story of slaves from Africa in the Cape has been underplayed. If you explore the songs and riddles of farm workers in the Cape you could trace the heritage of so-called 'Masbikers' - believed to be people descended from Mozambican slaves."South African archaeologist Jaco Boshoff, who was part of the team that identified the wreck, said: "It's a first for South Africa - no other wreck has been found off South Africa that carried slaves."He said some artefacts had been removed from the site by treasure hunters but much excavation still had to be done. The shipwreck contains four cannon, one of them buried in sand.Struggle icon Albie Sachs, whose Clifton home looks on to the dive site, hosted a ceremony yesterday to commemorate victims of the shipwreck tragedy, attended by Mozambican, South African and US representatives.He said the sinking had a deeply personal resonance because Mozambican doctors saved his life after he lost an arm in a car bomb attack in 1988."The pain is there - pain in paradise. Two hundred people, maybe some in shackles, drowning as slaves off the beautiful beaches of Clifton."I don't scare easily but now I feel afraid because we are disturbing the serenity and tranquillity with unspeakably horrible memories."History can spoil everything. This view of paradise - we have to confront the history and look it in the eye."..