James Anderson broke Ian Botham's England record of 383 Test wickets, but was ultimately left disappointed as the tourists were held to a first-Test draw by West Indies.
Having come into the clash three short of Botham's 23-year-old marker, Anderson (2-72) had closed the gap with two wickets in the hosts' first innings.
The wicket of Marlon Samuels (23) pulled Anderson level with Botham, before the paceman saw off Denesh Ramdin (57) to pen his name in the history books.
However, England were unable to mark the occasion with a first win in Antigua, as Jason Holder (103), who scored his maiden first-class century, played a key role in frustrating the tourists.
The result will evoke unwelcome memories of England's last Test series in the West Indies in 2009, when a failure to put matches to bed cost them on more than one occasion.
Having been set a target of 438 and closed day four on 98-2, West Indies needed to score a further 340 to win or bat out 90 overs on Friday to draw the opening Test of three.
Whatever the outcome, the first seven overs of the day suggested a Windies win was not on the cards - Samuels and Devon Smith (65) mustering just one run between them.
James Tredwell (1-93) made the breakthrough as Smith found Gary Ballance at mid-on, before Anderson saw off Samuels - caught by Tredwell - less than three overs later.
England were showing signs of building the momentum required to see out the result and Joe Root (2-22) trapped Shivnarine Chanderpaul (13) lbw, before Jermaine Blackwood (31) edged behind off Chris Jordan (1-48) to leave West Indies teetering on 189-6.
But if England thought the Test was won, Ramdin and Holder had other ideas.
The pair racked up a partnership of 105 as the Windies' stubborn resistance caused frustration in the tourists' camp.
Anderson's record-breaking wicket finally came as Ramdin nicked to slip, where captain Alastair Cook was waiting to collect the ball and finally engrave his colleague's name into English cricketing history.
Botham - in Antigua on media duty - rose to his feet to applaud his successor's achievement.
However, that was to be England's final wicket of the match, as Holder, with the help of Kemar Roach (15 not out), held firm to make his own piece of personal history and force the draw.