Before leaving London, Schomberg had ordered Kirke to relieve Londonderry. If the town could hold out, and if his orders were obeyed, he had no doubt that it would be safe to land in Ulster, but he feared that Kirke could not be depended on (_un homme capricieux_). The boom was broken on July 30, and the good news reached Schomberg at Chester on August 3, though at first he could hardly believe it. Three days later one of the warships from Lough Foyle came in with the official account, and the captain wanted to go on to London, but Portland, who had come to Chester, preferred to carry the message himself. Kirke's account got to Edinburgh as early as August 1. Dundee received his death-wound only three days before the breaking of the boom, and after that Schomberg knew that there was no danger on the Scotch side. On arriving at Chester, Schomberg found nothing to his liking. He blamed William Harbord, Essex's old secretary, who had been appointed paymaster-general, in the belief that he made money unduly by taking advance of the exchange, while the brass coin made all values uncertain. Harbord had a company, but the old general says scornfully that he had seen nothing of it but the colours in his room. It was said that he employed the officers at civil work. As to John Shales, the chief commissary, Schomberg is quite outspoken, and in the end he sent him to England to stand his trial. Shales had great experience, and that was why he was appointed, but the extreme Whigs naturally believed evil of all who had served the late King. Most likely the mismanagement and the peculation were much what the general described, but Shales probably knew that greater men than himself were involved, and the charges against him were never sifted to the bottom. Schomberg had a poor opinion of the English officers generally, and they were particularly unfit to train raw recruits during actual warfare. Cromwell's plan had been to enlist men in England and to send over half a battalion at a time to join the more seasoned soldiers and to learn the rest of their business from them. Yet even Cromwell lost many men by disease during his first campaign. As it was, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of village lads were swept into the ranks who had never fired a gun, and some who had never seen one fired. The infantry were thinly clothed, and had no great coats. The cavalry were rather better off, but the officers, for the most part, did not mind their men's comfort, and the privates would hardly take the trouble to groom their horses. Schomberg stayed over three weeks at or near Chester, grumbling much and with good reason, but working hard to make up for the defects of bad administration. In the meantime a fleet of transports was assembled in the Dee with enough men-of-war to guard against possible attack by French cruisers.[239] [Sidenote: Schomberg reaches Ireland.] [Sidenote: Weakness of the Jacobite army.]