Embarkation and departure of the fleet at Flushing harbour by E. van Hoogerheyden and J. Schwartzenbach, c. 1805. France and the Batavian Republic, as the country was known from 1795 to 1806, were allies. In 1804 a large Dutch naval fleet sailed to the harbour of Boulogne-sur-Mer, in North France. They were earmarked for the French emperor Napoleon's plans to invade the British Isles. The invasion never took place.