Boat breaking in open ocean

I was riding a boat across an ocean, trying to find more of the land, when suddenly my boat vanished. I'm assuming it broke, but I didn't get anything from it. I was in the middle of the ocean, no visible land or blocks (non flowing water blocks being an obvious exception), not even ones right underneath me.
it has happened once or twice before on an older version (might have been an older snapshot, might have been the most recent full version).