not have "a pot to p**s in'' by the time they were finished with him.

That was the evidence in Supreme Court yesterday as Mr. Peniston tried to show why he should not be declared bankrupt.

He says Mr. Robert Thomson, his former partner in failed glass-bottom boat firm Bermuda Vacations, tried to ruin him.

Capt. Steven Brown, who was in charge of the firm's boat Reef Goddess , gave evidence with his fiancee Ms Patricia Zorn on behalf of Mr. Peniston.

Capt. Brown said that before the Reef Goddess had to be auctioned off in March 1992, the Thomsons told staff another company was being formed with Mr. Donald Morris of rival firm Bermuda Island Cruises.

Mr. Thomson and his wife "made mention that they wanted to get at Mr.

Peniston'', Capt. Brown testified.

"They wanted to get at that `no-good bastard'. I remember Mrs. Thomson specifically saying that.

"They said as well that by the time they were finished with him he would not have a pot to p**s in.'' Mr. Thomson was in financial control of Bermuda Vacations and signed the pay cheques, said the captain.

Getting the final pay cheques before the firm hit the rocks had been a problem for staff, however.

"Mr. Thomson mentioned that he wanted us to go to The Royal Gazette and make mention that Mr. Peniston was not paying us, and also that our pay would be withheld if we didn't do it. He told us that he wanted to embarrass Mr.

Peniston.'' Staff refused to do this and were eventually paid, said Capt. Brown. Mr.

Thomson's lawyer, Mr. Saul Froomkin, suggested Mr. Thomson had to pay the final wage bills himself.

He had been fed up with looking after the firm's finances while Mr. Peniston went around claiming it was he who was keeping the company afloat.

Mr. Thomson wanted staff to tell the paper that it was he and not Mr. Peniston who was paying them, Mr. Froomkin suggested.

Capt. Brown said he could not say if this was the reason.

He added staff had felt uncomfortable, and that there was "something wrong'' with the company, because it had been pretty successful since starting in April, 1991.

Other firms on the waterfront became "bitter rivals'' and banded together against it, he said.

Ms Zorn told the court she had to pursue the Thomsons over $196 owed to her.

When she confronted Mrs. Thomson in November, 1992, they discussed a newspaper story about Mr. Peniston's money problems.

Mrs. Thomson said "they were not finished with him yet and that newspaper article was nothing in comparison to what they were going to do to him.

"She went on to say that the cherry on the cake would be to see him totally bankrupt, to the point where -- pardon the expression -- he would not have a pot to p**s in.'' Mr. Peniston's secretary at the time, Ms Sheila Cusack, also said Mr. Thomson handled the finances of Bermuda Vacations.

Tension between Mr. Thomson and Mr. Peniston started in the fall of 1991. "It was uncomfortable working there. On numerous occasions Mr. Thomson had said to me that he was going to bankrupt Llew.

"Mr. Thomson was pretty open, in discussions in the office, that he wanted someone to buy Mr. Peniston's shares he owned in Bermuda Vacations to get him out of Bermuda Vacations.

"I didn't want to know what was going on between him and Mr. Peniston. It was just too upsetting to me.'' Questioned by Mr. Froomkin, she said Mr. Thomson had told her Mr. Peniston owed him money. She had not been aware the sum was $80,000.

The case continues today.