Macao Expedition: During the French revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars the British Government and the EIC feared that the French would capture one or more of Portugal's colonies of Goa, Damam, Diu, or Macao and use it as a base for operations against Britain's possessions. Because Portugal was a British ally the British could not invade the colonies, it could only offer assistance in the form of extra troops. In 1801 the Admiralty asked Admiral Peter Rainier, the commander-in-chief of Royal Navy operations on the East Indies Station to assist the Portuguese at Macao.