diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/DescribeCommand.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/DescribeCommand.java
index 7f1ed8c14..dc605a91e 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/DescribeCommand.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/DescribeCommand.java
@@ -224,12 +224,16 @@ public class DescribeCommand extends GitCommand<String> {
 		}
 	}
 
-	private ObjectId getObjectIdFromRef(Ref r) {
-		ObjectId key = repo.peel(r).getPeeledObjectId();
-		if (key == null) {
-			key = r.getObjectId();
+	private ObjectId getObjectIdFromRef(Ref r) throws JGitInternalException {
+		try {
+			ObjectId key = repo.getRefDatabase().peel(r).getPeeledObjectId();
+			if (key == null) {
+				key = r.getObjectId();
+			}
+			return key;
+		} catch (IOException e) {
+			throw new JGitInternalException(e.getMessage(), e);
 		}
-		return key;
 	}
 
 	/**