Maxwell's Last Voyage Was Preceded By A Tantrum

TENERIFE, Canary Islands - Robert Maxwell was just a few degrees north of the equator Monday night, but he wanted lobster, a creature of the cold north Atlantic waters. No lobster? He roared at the crew aboard the Lady Ghislaine docked in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, here in the Canary Islands. He wanted his lobster, blast it all.

It was his first voyage aboard the yacht in at least three months - and for one deckhand, at least, it was the first time he had seen the owner of the 180-foot-long vessel.

A few minutes before 8 p.m., sources here say, Maxwell left his boat, sputtering at the crew for its failure to procure lobster.

He took a cab a few miles into downtown Santa Cruz, to the five-star Hotel Mency, and was seated in the dining room for dinner. He was alone.

Sergio Rodriguez, headwaiter,said Maxwell asked, "What do you recommend?"

Rodriguez suggested the hake and Maxwell agreed. He had cleaned the hake from his plate and was on his third beer when he reached for a walkie-talkie he had brought with him.

Leaning one elbow on the linen tablecloth, he tried to raise the crew of the Ghislaine. There was no answer. He tried another time. Again, nothing. Now he was so disgusted that he forgot the rest of the beer and asked for the check. The bill was 13,300 pesetas, just over $13.

Does this include the service? Maxwell asked Rodriguez.

It did not.

paid the bill, left 14,000 pesetas and stalked from the

restaurant, muttering, Rodriguez recalled. The headwaiter ran after Maxwell with his jacket.

Maxwell taxied back to the Ghislaine. Instead of sailing directly for the south end of the island, he ordered the ship to spend the night cruising around the Grand Canary island.

Through the night, Maxwell apparently slept little, if at all. He was suffering from pulmonary edema, and was being treated by a nephew who is a physician, said Kenneth Hazell, the British consul on the island of Tenerife.

As the boat sailed around the Grand Canary island, Maxwell was seen by crew members gazing over the starboard side, said Hazell.

It has been reported that the Lady Ghislaine is lined with railings and banisters that would make it impossible for a man to topple over them. But a walk around the Ghislaine in the Santa Cruz harbor yesterday found as many places unprotected by rails as protected.

A dip in the wall of the boat serves the yacht just as a curb-cut serves a driveway - it allows easy lowering and loading of two powerboats stored on deck just behind the cables.

Maxwell was about 6-foot-3, and often posed on deck. It is possible to see where he stood in relation to this cable-railing. In one published photograph, it appears that the cable ran at a level above his knees but below his groin. This meant that the cable was below Maxwell's center of gravity, which is counted as being the waistline, where he appeared to carry the lion's share of his 300 pounds.

Without a doubt, it seems possible - and likely - that a man of Maxwell's size and girth, pitching forward, could have continued over the side of the boat, uninterrupted by the cable below his groin. Beyond the cable lay only the sea - no other decks.

"It's just outside his stateroom, or fairly near it, and it apparently was one of his favorite spots," Hazell said. "That was the last spot he was seen, at about 4:15 in the morning."

He returned to the cabin and asked for the air-conditioning to be turned up. It was. Thirty minutes later, he asked that it be turned down. That was the last he was heard from.