Fort Siloso: 6-Inch QF Battery Cartridge Stores
Cartridge Stores
There are two Cartridge Stores in the 6-Inch QF Gun Magazine. Only the ones opposite as you enter the Magazine (1 to 6 in the photos below) are on the original plan. The other one must have been added
just before, or during construction to increase capacity from the planned total of 600 Cartridges.
RIGHT: The now vanished remains of a Ventilator Shaft from the inland Cartridge Store. A revolving cowl would have once topped this. The cowl would rotate in a breeze or wind to create a movement of the air in the Cartridge Store below.
Propellant charges were passed out of hatches in the thick walls of the Cartridge Stores to the men working on the hoists at each side of the Magazine. The walls were thickly built to minimise the effects of any explosion occurring in the Magazine.
A Lantern Recess between the No.1 and No.2 Cartridge Stores.
A Lantern Recess and Ammunition Hatches in the wall and at floor level opposite
the No.1 Cartridge Hoist.
Looking towards the Hatches in Photo No.2 from inside the Cartridge Store for the
No.1 Hoist. The beams on the roof were for supporting trays of cartridges for ease
of movement. The hatch at floor level would have had a sliding steel door to cover it.
Looking through both Cartridge Stores under the guns. There are no Lantern
recesses in the Cartridge Stores. The only light came from Lanterns outside. It will
have been very gloomy in the Stores.
The figure of a Volunteer Artilleryman working at the No.2 Hoist. Any man working
there would not be handling Shells, but Cartridges. The floor hatch would have had
a sliding steel door. This hatch has, for an unknown reason, now been filled in by
the owners of the Fort.
The passage from the No.2 Shell Hoist to the second
Cartridge Store.
The Short passage extension where Cartridges would be
passed through the Ammunition Hatches to men servicing
the Hoist.
Inside the Cartridge Store. There are no Lantern Recesses in the Store.
The passage leading from the Cartridge Store to the No.1 Hoists. There are two lantern
recesses in the wall. Lantern Recesses in the passages were the only sources of illumination
for the men working in the Store.