On January 17, 1673, an English freebooter, Capt. William Dampier reached Tictabun island off the Zamboanga coast. There he wrote down this account: "A little to the westward of the Keys (Tictabun island) we saw an abundance of coconut trees, therefore we sent our canoes, thinking to find inhabitants, but found none, no sign of any, but great tracks of wild hogs and great cattle, and close by the sea were ruins of an old fort. The walls thereof are of good height, built with stone and lime, and by the workmanship seemed to be Spaniard."
