He attempted to repeat this success with an effort to build a Panama Canal at sea-level during the 1880s , but the project was devastated by epidemics of malaria and yellow fever in the area , as well as beset by financial problems , and the planned de Lesseps Panama Canal was never completed .
He also tried to build a Panama Canal during the 1880s , but malaria and yellow fever was so bad that he gave up and the Panama Canal Company went bankrupt .