The Pescadores campaign which took place in late March, 1885, was one of the last campaigns of the Sino-French War. It was fought to capture the Pescadores, a strategically important archipelago off the western coast of Taiwan. Admiral Amédée Courbet, with part of the French Far East Squadron, bombarded the Chinese coastal defences around the principal town of Makung on Penghu Island and landed a battalion of marine infantry which routed the Chinese defenders and occupied Makung. The Pescadores were occupied by the French until July 1885 and Admiral Courbet, by then a national hero in France, died aboard his flagship Bayard in Makung harbour during the occupation.