[Verginius Rufus]

Odd coincidence--a little-known sailor from the 1400s named Weston supposedly played a key role, and the research now is being funded by a family that has money because of "the Weston retail dynasty."

There were various medieval legends about explorations (such as by St. Brendan). Even if those didn't happen, people in the 1400s might have thought they were real and acted accordingly.

A couple of Genoese explorers sailed west in 1291 and were never heard from again--did they make it across the Atlantic and get eaten by Caribs? Did they founder somewhere mid-ocean? No one knows what happened to them.

[SunkenCiv]

> A couple of Genoese explorers sailed west in 1291 and were never heard from again

Hey, pretty interesting:

Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandino_and_Ugolino_Vivaldi