Mount Siloso 6 Inch QF Emplacement Magazine
The view to the left as you enter the magazine. A glass fronted lantern recess is on the left-hand wall. In the days before electric lamps, lanterns were lit and placed in these recesses, and the glass doors were closed. As can be imagined the magazine was somewhat dimly lit in those days. Beyond the lantern recess, on the floor, is a ammunition hoist leading to the steel doors on rear of the emplacement. Beyond the chain barrier are figures of men serving a sloping ammunition hoist carrying propellant cartridges to the hatch on the rear of the left-hand gun platform. Unseen to the left, just beyond the barrier is the passage to the landward ammunition store. To the right is another ammunition store.
The view to the right as you step into the Magazine. This shows the opposite cartridge hoist. Notice the lantern recess in the wall.
To the right just beyond the chain barrier is the other entrance to the landward ammunition store. To the left of the barrier is the other ammunition hoist for raising shells to the guns above.
A plan of the 6 Inch QF Gun Magazine.
Shells and propellant charges were passed out of hatches in the thick walls of the respective storage areas in the magazine to the men feeding the hoists. This minimised the effects of an explosion in the magazine.
The two long ammunition hoists at each end of the Magazine took propellant charges to the ammunition hatches at the rear of the gun platforms. The other two hoists lead to steel doors to the side of the gun platforms. Shells would be taken up on these hoists. This was a standard safety practice.
The two hoists to each side of the entrance to the Magazine lead up to the steel hatches on the rear face of the emplacement. These hoists were used to lower ammunition into the Magazine.
The Ammunition Hoists on each side of the entrance to the Magazine.
The Shell Store between the shell hoists.
Shell and Cartridge Hoists at each end of the Magazine.
The Cartridge Store.