170 • The Abysshis financial assets. Like Pepys, he was as good as his word, and Turner had
far greater credit resources to back him up. If worse came to worst, he had
the small fortune that he had already accumulated to carry him through this
pestilential season.
There was another secret to Turner’s success that an opportunistic entre-
preneur like Samuel Pepys easily overlooked. While the Navy Board sec-
retary’s account keeping of his frenetic activities got more and more haphaz-
ard, Sir William always knew exactly where he stood. He might not be
taking in much money these weeks, but he was current on paying his debts
and he knew his financial worth, right down to his cash reserves and gold
chain, whose links he was rumored to count obsessively.^25 Woe betide the
Pocquelins in Paris when their records did not square with Turner’s meticu-
lous double-entry account books. On September 4 , he testily addressed his
partners in Paris that he hadn’t the time to answer their letter fully but would
“send you the accompt of money drawne and lett you see how much you’re
mistaken to say I owe you £ 300 .”^26
His most immediate problem was a lack of cash. His account books
showed a falling off of sales in June. By mid-July he could count on none of
his wholesale customers, who usually bought large consignments. An entry
for July 12 listed a purchase of taffeta by Roger L’Estrange, of the Newesand
Intelligencer.The next entry in that account was dated eleven months later.^27
In late July, Sir William had more than £ 1 , 000 in two new accounts, plus
£ 400 in cash in an old joint account with the Pocquelins. A week later these
reserves were gone. He had paid a French “factor” £ 745 on his half of a new
debt for goods received and £ 500 on an old one. “I can advance no more,” he
informed the Pocquelins, “having disposed my money.” He held out hope of
more money coming in soon, but the continuing exodus of merchant cus-
tomers from the city made that unlikely. A different way of keeping in busi-
ness must be devised.^28
Turner transferred money without handling cash, drawing on bills of ex-
change and letters of credit issued by persons with access to money. He was
the envy of those in Gauden’s and Pepys’ circle; both forms of credit had be-
come extremely scarce in the money market.^29 Equally impressive was his
ability to make the most of these instruments by delaying the time when the
bills or letters could be cashed. By August his accountant-relative Andrew
Turner informed the Pocquelins that, besides the collapse of sales, customers
had failed to pay old bills on time. The Pocquelins were no longer to draw on
new bills of exchange “on sight” or even a few days after receiving them. “If