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.

Tejuca, a wood-hulled clipper ship, was built in 1854 by Isaac C. Smith & Son of Hoboken, New Jersey, for Napier, Johnson & Co., a New York firm. Launched 24 May 1854, Tejuca was built "for the South American trade", and was named after the district of Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, then known for its coffee plantations.

Tejuca was 140 feet (43 m) in length, with a beam of 28 feet (8.5 m) and hold depth of 12 feet (3.7 m). Her carrying capacity was 470 tons, and she had some accommodation for passengers. At time of launch, she was described in newspaper reports as a "finely modelled" and "finely proportioned" ship that combined "carrying capacity with qualities for sailing."

Tejuca was to be commanded for the whole of her brief career by William D. Gregory. Her New York agent was Gurdon S. Coit of 106 Wall Street, who was also agent for the clipper Sunny South, skippered by Gregory's brother Michael.

Tejuca made four round trips between the United States and Brazil from June 1854 to December 1855, usually calling at Rio de Janeiro via Bahia and returning via Bahia to New York, although one return voyage was made to New Orleans. The return cargo on the first three trips was coffee, but the last was made with a cargo of sugar. Tejuca's coffee cargoes typically attracted good prices in the United States as Brazilian coffee was much in demand at this time. The ship's outbound cargoes are not known.

Tejuca departed New York on her maiden voyage June 15, 1854, bound for Rio via Bahia, returning to New York 14 October with two passengers and a consignment of 5,000 bags of coffee for Napier, Johnson & Co. Clearing New York 18 November, Tejuca made a second passage to Rio via Bahia. Departing Rio 5 February, the vessel then completed "one of the quickest passages on record" between that port and New Orleans, where she arrived 14 March with a cargo of 4,541 bags of coffee.