Lloyd Esler now believes it is unlikely wreckage found on Oreti Beach is from the cargo ship Hindu.

Bits of a shipwreck that washed up on an Invercargill beach is most likely not from a 150-year-old wreckage, the man who found it says.

On January 14, Invercargill city councillor and historian Lloyd Esler found parts of what he originally believed could be from cargo ship Hindu at the south entrance to Oreti Beach.

However, he now believes the wreckage could be from anywhere.

"It almost certainly isn't [150 years old]. There are a number of shipwrecks that could have drifted there."

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Esler had not returned to have another look at the wreckage but it might not be too hard to figure out where it came from, he said.

"It depends on the type of bolts and timber used. It shouldn't be hard to pin down the ship or the era."

It was possible debris could have drifted from anywhere in the world to southern shores, he said.

Wreckage discovered at Ship Creek in South Westland was found to have drifted more than 2000km from its final resting spot.

The Schomberg was nearing the end of its maiden voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne in 1855 when it was wrecked on a sandbar in Victoria, Australia.

The type of timber used in the Schomberg's construction helped to identify it when the remaining wreckage was discovered in 1973.

However, Riverton boat builder Cory Ward said it would be hard to tell where the boat came from without more of the wreckage.

Wooden boat builders still worked with some of the same materials used to fashion historic boats, he said.

"It would be hard to tell. If there was more of the boat you might be able to."