Balambangan Island is located off the northern tip of Borneo

Borneo

Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....

 in the Malaysian state of Sabah

Sabah

Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...

. It is part of the Kudat Division

Kudat Division

Kudat Division is an administrative division of Sabah, east Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. It occupies the northern tip of Sabah. With an area of 4,623 Square kilometers , it is the smallest of the five divisions of Sabah....

 and is situated just about 3 kilometres west of Banggi Island

Banggi Island

Banggi Island is located within the Kudat Division of Sabah in Malaysia. With an area of 440.7 square kilometres it is the third largest island in Malaysia after Langkawi Island and Betruit Island, followed Penang Island in fourth place. It is located off the northern coast of Sabah, near Marudu...

.

This island was one of the first locations in what is now Malaysia where British traders set up a trading post. At the time, the British referred to it as Felicia Island.

In 1761, British East India Company

British East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

 officer Alexander Dalrymple

Alexander Dalrymple

Alexander Dalrymple was a Scottish geographer and the first Hydrographer of the British Admiralty. He was the main proponent of the theory that there existed a vast undiscovered continent in the South Pacific, Terra Australis Incognita...

 concluded an agreement with the Sultan of Sulu to allow him occupation of the island. A free port was then established here which was of importance for the interest of Britain in the east Asia region, namely, trade with China. The port however failed to become a long term success due to constant pirate attacks as well as for other reasons and the British left in 1805.

In December, 1805, five members of the ill-fated crew of shipwrecked schooner Betsey

Betsey (schooner)

The Betsey was a schooner wrecked in the South China Sea in 1805.The Betsey was a schooner of 75 tons under the command of William Brooks and the mate Edward Luttrell. Betsey was sailing from Macau, China to Sydney, New South Wales when at 2.30 AM on 21 November 1805 it struck a reef...

made it off Balambangan Island in a small boat despite being attacked by eleven natives; however, one sailor died in the boat due to his injuries.