RFA Petroleum arrived five days late at Portsmouth on 2nd February 1914 with a cargo of oil from Port Arthur, Texas, USA after experiencing terrible weather during her passage home.

Two days after leaving Norfolk, Virginia, where she had called to coal, a hurricane from the North West blew up with such violence as to compel the vessel to run before it.  On the evening of the 15 January distress flares were seen some miles off. The Petroleum altered course and when she came up to them she found the Norwegian barque Charla sinking with all her masts gone. At about 11.30pm a boat from the Petroleum with a volunteer crew under the Chief Officer Ernest  G. Enright RFA went and saved the 15 crew. They were transferred to the tanker though the water and as the ships boat was being raised onboard four of her crew were thrown into the water and rescued with great difficulty.

The rescued Norwegian crew were taken by RFA Petroleum to the Azores and landed. The barque Charla came from Kristiansand and had been bound for Le Havre being 22 days out from Jamaica.