first ship captain to deliver 50 barrels of corn, flour, or biscuits to the citadel. Finally, a large supply fleet arrived on 7–8 October, with 29 out of 35 ships eluding the English naval blockade. This was in the nick of time as Toiras had already declared he would be unable to hold out after this date of not being resupplied. From the mainland, 4,000 additional troops were landed on the southern end of the island on 20 October. The rescue troops were under the Marshal of France Henri de Schomberg. Final assault and retreat On 27 October Buckingham attempted a last desperate attack on Saint Martin, but the English ladders turned out to be too short to scale the walls, and the fortress again proved impregnable. Although there were indications that the Saint Martin French garrison was also close to exhaustion, Buckingham finally retreated with his troops towards the northern part of the island, with the objective of embarking from the area of Loix. He was harassed by pursuing French troops, with heavy casualties. Altogether, Buckingham lost more than 5,000 men in the campaign, out of a force of 7,000. Aftermath Two months into the siege, the people of La Rochelle finally started open hostilities against the central government of France in September, initiating the siege of La Rochelle. Following the defeat of Buckingham in October, England attempted to send two fleets to relieve La Rochelle. The first one, led by William Feilding, Earl of Denbigh, left in April 1628, but returned without a fight to Portsmouth, as Denbigh "said that he had no commission to hazard the king's ship in a fight and returned shamefully to Portsmouth". After returning to England, Buckingham tried to organise a second campaign to relieve the siege of La Rochelle, but he was stabbed and killed at Portsmouth on 23 August 1628 by John Felton, an army officer who had been wounded in the earlier military adventure and believed he had been passed over for promotion by Buckingham. Felton was hanged in November and Buckingham was buried in Westminster Abbey. However at the time of his death, Buckingham was a widely hated figure amongst the public; Felton was popularly acclaimed as a hero for assassinating him. The second fleet was dispatched soon after Buckingham's death, under the Admiral of the Fleet, the Earl of Lindsey in August, but remained blocked by the seawall