CARTRIDGES.
Cartridge-bags are made either of serge or of silk cloth.
Serge is used in all smooth-bores and breech-loading rifles, except for the blank cartridges of smooth-bores, which are of silk.
Silk is used for all muzzle-loading rifles.
Cartridges are always filled by weight and not by measure.
All cartridges are both choked and hooped, the number of hoops depending on the length of the cartridge. These hoops are either of twine or braid, according to the size and weight of cartridge and the stiffness required.
All cartridges are marked in black with the nature of the gun for which they are intended, the weight of powder, and the monogram of the station where they were filled.
Cartridges are packed in magazines, in corrugated brass tanks which are either rectangular or pentagonal.
Cartridges for calibres above 8 inches are not transported about the ship’s decks in passing-boxes, but in zinc cylinders with a lock cover.