 Rescue of Tejuca's crew by Excelsior (right), 1856
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Tejuca |
| Namesake | Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Owner | Napier, Johnson & Co. |
| Builder | Isaac C. Smith & Son (Hoboken, NY) |
| Launched | 24 May 1854 |
| Maiden voyage | 15 June 1854 |
| Fate | Sunk by hurricane in mid-Atlantic, 7 January 1856 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Clipper ship |
| Tonnage | 470 tons |
| Length | 140 ft (43 m) |
| Beam | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
| Depth of hold | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
| Propulsion | Sail |
| Sail plan | Square rigged |
| Crew | 17 |
Tejuca was a small 470-ton clipper ship built in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1854. After only eighteen months of service, she was lost in a hurricane on the North Atlantic, with most of her crew rescued through a daring maneuver carried out by the ship Excelsior.
Built for South American service, Tejuca spent most of her brief career in the coffee trade between Brazil and the United States, making four round trips between the two countries, including a passage between Bahia and New Orleans in early 1855 that at the time was reportedly one of the fastest on record.
In late December 1855, Tejuca embarked on her first transatlantic crossing, and a few days later ran into a severe hurricane. With the ship badly damaged and in a sinking condition, all but one of her crew were rescued by the ship Excelsior, whose captain risked his own vessel by bringing it alongside Tejuca while the storm still raged. Excelsior's captain later received an award for gallantry for the rescue.