GBLA Stamps by Václav Kňourek
Peter Valdner (2024)
In the 1960s, radio operators on ships provided a direct connection to home. While the ship was sailing, the captain's right hand was the deck officers, but on the Lednice, stranded for eight years on the Great Bitter Lake, it was the radio operators who held this role. R/O Václav Kňourek was Captain Benda’s right hand during his first stay on the GBL in 1968.
The year 1968 was one of abundance and stamp production on the GBL. The first stamps were created in 1967 by Captain Kudrna, and R/O Kňourek continued this production on the Lednice.
The sailors gathered for many sports and cultural events organized by the GBLA - Great Bitter Lake Association. Every Sunday, they met in the so-called church on the MS Nordwind, which was not for religious services but for crew meetups over beer. Each crew brought a few cases of beer, a tradition they called "Bottle Traffic."
R/O Kňourek issued a single print sheet with a run of 100 copies, dedicated to life on the GBL. This sheet can be seen in Captain Hill’s book and, of course, in the GBLA Stamp Catalogue. It names all 14 GBLA ships, notes the Lednice’s position as number 13 in the detained convoy, and highlights Bottle Traffic.
The prominent role of Engineer Kňourek in the history of the GBLA is underscored by the fact that he was the only representative from the Lednice at the sailors' gathering in Hamburg, where the film Gefangen im Bittersee ("Imprisoned in the Bitter Lake") was being filmed. If you're interested in the GBLA, I highly recommend watching it.
I don't know if it was intentional on the director’s part, but among about ten attendees of the gathering were also three other creators of the 1968 GBLA stamps: Captain Marian Kasprzyk from the Polish MS Djakarta, Captain Uwe Karstens, and Jozef Gattermayr from the German MS Nordwind. There was surely talk about the stamps, and Captain Kasprzyk even presented his wonderful prints to the attendees.
Unfortunately, the stamps didn’t make it into the final cut of the film. What a pity.
Sources: GBLA Encyclopaedia and Stamp Catalogue, archives of the author
Contact: valdpete@yahoo.com