CULTURE Somalis' Sewn-boats
- Thread starter Shimbiris
- Start date
Thanks! Could you link me the sources for each of these? Wanna download and keep them on hand. I'm still working on my posts sometimes. I keep getting sidetracked. Will post them soon. There's a lot of info to share. But this is good stuff. That adds Massawa to the list. So from the sources I've found Somali dhows went to all the following locations in the last 200 or so years:
- Aden
- Mocha
- al-Mukalla
- Muscat
- Dubai
- Sharjah
- Jeddah
- Bombay
- Mombasa
- Zanzibar
- Mauritius
And now that adds Massawa. So they went everywhere from India to the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf to the Swahili coast. Quite a range.
Hamzza
VIP
Add ras al khaimah to this
bump
Alright. I found yet more Early Modern sources on Somalis and seafaring. I actually found the bulk of these many, many months ago when I found a lot of the stuff earlier in this thread when I was first digging but got sidetracked and had to take a break until finally getting to post now.
This source is speaking of the first decade of the 1800s here and mentions Somali sailors and traders going to Arabia to sell their goods:
This source from the 1820s mentions that the British ended up signing a treaty with the Habar Awal who controlled Berbera at the time that contains the following articles:
This was sparked by how the British at this time were basically worried that the Habar Awal were taking on the piratical looting habits of the Majeerteen to their east and Qasimis in the Persian Gulf as the Habar Awal apparently attacked a British brig at Berbera's port and looted it.
The source further talks about how the Haji Ali Sharmarke of the Habar Yoonis we encounter in Richard Burton's writings was once a Dhow ship's captain:
This lines up pretty well with how the Warsangeli in the mid 1800s describe a past of competing with Isaaq sailors who did seemingly also exist as early as before 1825-1827 by the looks of it. Then there's this source where the man spent several years in British Somaliland during the late 1800s largely around Berbera from what I recall and he literally defines "Dhow" in his book as:
While recounting the following story:
Though he shares an interesting fact which is that, apparently, during his time in the late 1800s the Isaaq seem to have possibly experienced some sort of decline in regards to seafaring as the Warsangeli and the Majeerteen are more dominant in this respect:
post to be continued...
This source is speaking of the first decade of the 1800s here and mentions Somali sailors and traders going to Arabia to sell their goods:
This source from the 1820s mentions that the British ended up signing a treaty with the Habar Awal who controlled Berbera at the time that contains the following articles:
This was sparked by how the British at this time were basically worried that the Habar Awal were taking on the piratical looting habits of the Majeerteen to their east and Qasimis in the Persian Gulf as the Habar Awal apparently attacked a British brig at Berbera's port and looted it.
The source further talks about how the Haji Ali Sharmarke of the Habar Yoonis we encounter in Richard Burton's writings was once a Dhow ship's captain:
This lines up pretty well with how the Warsangeli in the mid 1800s describe a past of competing with Isaaq sailors who did seemingly also exist as early as before 1825-1827 by the looks of it. Then there's this source where the man spent several years in British Somaliland during the late 1800s largely around Berbera from what I recall and he literally defines "Dhow" in his book as:
While recounting the following story:
Though he shares an interesting fact which is that, apparently, during his time in the late 1800s the Isaaq seem to have possibly experienced some sort of decline in regards to seafaring as the Warsangeli and the Majeerteen are more dominant in this respect:
"Buggalow/Baghlah" type Dhow
An unclear image of a Somali Baghlah from the late 19th century. Described in the book as "A large sailing boat with high prow, such as seen conveying dates between the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea ports."
post to be continued...
... post continued
I also found this earlier source on 1855 while googling around:
Got curious about who the Somali sailors were as Kurrum is Karin which is in the Saaxiil region and is historically a Habar Jeclo stronghold. Realized I have the primary source in this case although it is sadly not fully digitized and you can't just do a ctrl+F; nevertheless, I found the chapter where he goes to Karin and found out the tribal origins of the Somali sailors he is sailing with:
So Habar Jeclo sailors confirmed right there (Garxajis (Habar Yoonis) was already confirmed). He's also sailing in a Baghlah with these Somalis, a quite large dhow. And, interestingly, he points out the following:
Kinda fits with what I've noticed throughout my research which is that sailing wasn't necessarily always some closed familial practice like fishing could be with some Somali coastal communities such as the reer maanyo in Koonfur but was something often practiced by anyone. There's more than one account, some of which I've shared in this thread, of young boys of nomadic origins just joining a Dhow crew and learning the trade like that.
It's also cool that Speke, about a century before Pankhurst, also casually repeats that Somalis are generally a seafaring people and from what he was seeing in the mid-1800s it was very common among Somalis know how to sail. I'll give his book a full-read someday. Pretty sure he has more to say on Somalis and sailing and I'm going to have to conduct a full read since ctrl+F isn't an option.
And a bit of a throwaway along the Isaaq clan vein, there's this quote from Cali Dhuux in his poetry from first half of the 1900s:
Interesting as Cali Dhuux was aware of Somali society from around the late 19th century to the first half of the 20th century so it says something that he casually incorporates things like this into his poetry. That, to him, it's that casual a thing to mention.
Post to be continued...
I also found this earlier source on 1855 while googling around:
Got curious about who the Somali sailors were as Kurrum is Karin which is in the Saaxiil region and is historically a Habar Jeclo stronghold. Realized I have the primary source in this case although it is sadly not fully digitized and you can't just do a ctrl+F; nevertheless, I found the chapter where he goes to Karin and found out the tribal origins of the Somali sailors he is sailing with:
So Habar Jeclo sailors confirmed right there (Garxajis (Habar Yoonis) was already confirmed). He's also sailing in a Baghlah with these Somalis, a quite large dhow. And, interestingly, he points out the following:
Kinda fits with what I've noticed throughout my research which is that sailing wasn't necessarily always some closed familial practice like fishing could be with some Somali coastal communities such as the reer maanyo in Koonfur but was something often practiced by anyone. There's more than one account, some of which I've shared in this thread, of young boys of nomadic origins just joining a Dhow crew and learning the trade like that.
It's also cool that Speke, about a century before Pankhurst, also casually repeats that Somalis are generally a seafaring people and from what he was seeing in the mid-1800s it was very common among Somalis know how to sail. I'll give his book a full-read someday. Pretty sure he has more to say on Somalis and sailing and I'm going to have to conduct a full read since ctrl+F isn't an option.
And a bit of a throwaway along the Isaaq clan vein, there's this quote from Cali Dhuux in his poetry from first half of the 1900s:
Interesting as Cali Dhuux was aware of Somali society from around the late 19th century to the first half of the 20th century so it says something that he casually incorporates things like this into his poetry. That, to him, it's that casual a thing to mention.
Post to be continued...
... post continued
But moving on to those earlier mentioned Northeastern tribes, I found yet another source that talks about Hartis going to Koonfur from the north via sailing:
Adding to that there's also the case of Sheikh Haji Ali Majeerteen (1787-1852) who apparently had 5 boats he brings down to Koonfur but in this case to Marko in 1847 that carry 150 of his followers alongside a substantial quantity of firearms and ammunition numbered at 40 rifles and 4 cannons with the intention of forming a colony near Marko whilst eventually allying with the Bimaal against the Geledi:
There is no mention anywhere that I can see of the boats being foreign in anyway and seem to just carry his followers, who were mainly of the Majeerteen like him, whom he had some intentions of forming a colony with. In fact, the numbers add up perfectly. He brought 150 followers with him and 5 Dhows. A lot of Somali Dhow crews seemed to number at about 30 people like in the case of a Baghlah so 30 x 5 = 150.
This source also coincides well in time-frame with the source I shared above and one I shared in the previous page talking about Majeerteens generally sailing down to Koonfur in Dhows along with another source that shows that around this time in the 1800s is when Majeerteens like the Cusmaan Maxamuud begin sailing quite a bit across the Indian ocean going from Koonfur to the Kenyan coast and even Zanzibar whilst also taking Kismaayo via the sea:
...
A very intriguing source as it actually points to seafaring and trade among Somalis in this period affecting their land migrations in that the pastoralists had to migrate due to how large their herds had become for the purpose of exports. This even in part caused environmental disasters that killed many people. Aden was also apparently very dependent on these sorts of livestock exports from places like the Northeast and Woqooyi Galbeed:
The previous source talking about Majeerteens, as you can see, also posits that the Cusmaan Maxamuud in particular begin to really venture to far away ports like in Tanzania around the mid 1800s onward but we know from a Portuguese source I've shared in the previous page of this thread along with others like one I shared above that Somalis are at the very least confirmed to have sailed to the Arabian Peninsula decades before this like the start of the 1800s and by 1815 where in the latter case the source is speaking specifically of people from around Cape Guardafui (MJs).
Post to be continued...
But moving on to those earlier mentioned Northeastern tribes, I found yet another source that talks about Hartis going to Koonfur from the north via sailing:
Adding to that there's also the case of Sheikh Haji Ali Majeerteen (1787-1852) who apparently had 5 boats he brings down to Koonfur but in this case to Marko in 1847 that carry 150 of his followers alongside a substantial quantity of firearms and ammunition numbered at 40 rifles and 4 cannons with the intention of forming a colony near Marko whilst eventually allying with the Bimaal against the Geledi:
There is no mention anywhere that I can see of the boats being foreign in anyway and seem to just carry his followers, who were mainly of the Majeerteen like him, whom he had some intentions of forming a colony with. In fact, the numbers add up perfectly. He brought 150 followers with him and 5 Dhows. A lot of Somali Dhow crews seemed to number at about 30 people like in the case of a Baghlah so 30 x 5 = 150.
This source also coincides well in time-frame with the source I shared above and one I shared in the previous page talking about Majeerteens generally sailing down to Koonfur in Dhows along with another source that shows that around this time in the 1800s is when Majeerteens like the Cusmaan Maxamuud begin sailing quite a bit across the Indian ocean going from Koonfur to the Kenyan coast and even Zanzibar whilst also taking Kismaayo via the sea:
...
A very intriguing source as it actually points to seafaring and trade among Somalis in this period affecting their land migrations in that the pastoralists had to migrate due to how large their herds had become for the purpose of exports. This even in part caused environmental disasters that killed many people. Aden was also apparently very dependent on these sorts of livestock exports from places like the Northeast and Woqooyi Galbeed:
The previous source talking about Majeerteens, as you can see, also posits that the Cusmaan Maxamuud in particular begin to really venture to far away ports like in Tanzania around the mid 1800s onward but we know from a Portuguese source I've shared in the previous page of this thread along with others like one I shared above that Somalis are at the very least confirmed to have sailed to the Arabian Peninsula decades before this like the start of the 1800s and by 1815 where in the latter case the source is speaking specifically of people from around Cape Guardafui (MJs).
Post to be continued...
... post continued
Apparently, as one of the sources I already shared points out above, Somalis even had a whole quarter of Mocha to themselves by 1764:
Wouldn't be surprised if they got there through their own vessels as whenever there are descriptions of Somalis going to places like Yemen or along their own coast, as you've no doubt so far seen, it's mostly pointed out to be in their own boats, and sailing to Yemen already seems firmly established by the start of the 1800s. Though one other interesting tidbit from that source I noticed, and have seen elsewhere before, is that by the 1840s there is a Harti subtribe, the Kabtanle, who are specifically known to be focused on seafaring:
Just to add to all this reer northeast sharing, here's also a source on Yusuf Ali Kenadid and his life as a sailor, captain and Dhow owner whose own son also owned a seafaring Dhow:
But back on the subject of travelling to Arabia on ships sailed by fellow Somalis, I found an interesting source on Somali folktales and stories from around the 19th and 20th centuries, and more than one story in it references sailors or sailing but one in particular caught my eye.
This story is a well-known one as it was the first story published in Somali when it was standardized and written using the Latin script and is titled "Ignorance Is the Enemy of Love" by Faraax Cawl:
...
Notice how casually sailors and sailing is spoken of as a way of life. The male lead character of the story is in fact a sailor himself. This is useful because this isn't simply a story but is based on oral traditions and accounts the author grew up with from people who'd lived in eras like the 19th century. Kinda crazy to think the first Somali story published in the Latin script was about a man who is a sailor.
Post to be continued...
Apparently, as one of the sources I already shared points out above, Somalis even had a whole quarter of Mocha to themselves by 1764:
Wouldn't be surprised if they got there through their own vessels as whenever there are descriptions of Somalis going to places like Yemen or along their own coast, as you've no doubt so far seen, it's mostly pointed out to be in their own boats, and sailing to Yemen already seems firmly established by the start of the 1800s. Though one other interesting tidbit from that source I noticed, and have seen elsewhere before, is that by the 1840s there is a Harti subtribe, the Kabtanle, who are specifically known to be focused on seafaring:
Just to add to all this reer northeast sharing, here's also a source on Yusuf Ali Kenadid and his life as a sailor, captain and Dhow owner whose own son also owned a seafaring Dhow:
But back on the subject of travelling to Arabia on ships sailed by fellow Somalis, I found an interesting source on Somali folktales and stories from around the 19th and 20th centuries, and more than one story in it references sailors or sailing but one in particular caught my eye.
This story is a well-known one as it was the first story published in Somali when it was standardized and written using the Latin script and is titled "Ignorance Is the Enemy of Love" by Faraax Cawl:
...
Notice how casually sailors and sailing is spoken of as a way of life. The male lead character of the story is in fact a sailor himself. This is useful because this isn't simply a story but is based on oral traditions and accounts the author grew up with from people who'd lived in eras like the 19th century. Kinda crazy to think the first Somali story published in the Latin script was about a man who is a sailor.
Post to be continued...
... post continued
But in the case of all of the above and previous sources I've been overwhelmingly focused on the north so I figured it would be good to look into the south a bit and I managed to also find some stuff from some quick looking around on Koonfur:
The people of the Banaadir at Xamar and Marko apparently have about 20 native good-sized vessels each to export their goods from the interior and onto the Swahili coast as far south as Zanzibar. This is a time when Xamar is ruled by the Hiraab and the town is basically, as its probably always been, majority Gibil-Madow whereas Marko was ruled by the Dir subtribe known as the Bimaal but demographically more even between Gibil-Cad and Gibil-Madow however work like fishing and seafaring would have been done by the Gibil-Madow groups such as the Reer Maanyo given that Gibil-Cads, from what I've noticed, mostly reserved themselves to tasks like commerce, being imams and so forth. The only craft I recall reading them participating in was textiles in the case of the Shaanshi and even then I think I recall that they used slaves for the actual labor. Tasks like smithing, masonry, fishing and so on were, like in Arabia, looked down upon and were left to the Gibil-Madows who also had merchants, imams and of course the rulers among their ranks in different tribal groups.
And it seems apparent in the traditions of the people of the Banaadir that the Reer Maanyo are both responsible for fishing and "import and export" so if there were native vessels I assume this was their work whilst the other tribes would have seen such work as taboo:
I'll need to do some re-reading and properly confirm this but I recall the number of boats fitting with medieval sources that say that when Ali Bey secured support along the Banaadir he was given 20 ships by ports like Xamars. If this was indeed the case, it seems they may have generally maintained a fleet of 20 Dhows, give or take.
In any case, this is interesting stuff as it shows seafaring was apparently known all along the coast during the 1800s and into the first half of the 1900s rather mainly in the north. From the northwest (Isaaq & Cisse), to the northeast (Majeerteen, Warsangeli & Kaptanle) and now Koonfur (assumably Reer Maanyo) with seagoing capabilities that can go to Southern Arabia and the Swahili coast as well as the Persian Gulf and India. Even if some groups like the Cusmaan Maxamuud are said to only apparently start going to somewhere like Zanzibar rather than just Arabia later into the 1800s, this is, I would personally say, far too widespread and developed a seafaring culture to be something that just sprang up around the late 1700s and there are a few classical and medieval accounts of some seafaring off the Somali coast which I'll share in due time either here or elsewhere.
I also found some further sources describing what appear to be Dhows from Koonfur sailing abroad for trade. There's this source that describes a thriving cattle trading industry between the Somali coast and Mauritius in 1860 and how it is "Somali Dhows" sailing between what appears to be Koonfur (Barawe and Xamar) and Mauritius to trade in this:
This is a great source in particular because it appears to extend Somali sailors' reach in the 1800s even south of Zanzibar and basically adjacent to Madagascar and Mozambique:
Post to be continued...
But in the case of all of the above and previous sources I've been overwhelmingly focused on the north so I figured it would be good to look into the south a bit and I managed to also find some stuff from some quick looking around on Koonfur:
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The people of the Banaadir at Xamar and Marko apparently have about 20 native good-sized vessels each to export their goods from the interior and onto the Swahili coast as far south as Zanzibar. This is a time when Xamar is ruled by the Hiraab and the town is basically, as its probably always been, majority Gibil-Madow whereas Marko was ruled by the Dir subtribe known as the Bimaal but demographically more even between Gibil-Cad and Gibil-Madow however work like fishing and seafaring would have been done by the Gibil-Madow groups such as the Reer Maanyo given that Gibil-Cads, from what I've noticed, mostly reserved themselves to tasks like commerce, being imams and so forth. The only craft I recall reading them participating in was textiles in the case of the Shaanshi and even then I think I recall that they used slaves for the actual labor. Tasks like smithing, masonry, fishing and so on were, like in Arabia, looked down upon and were left to the Gibil-Madows who also had merchants, imams and of course the rulers among their ranks in different tribal groups.
And it seems apparent in the traditions of the people of the Banaadir that the Reer Maanyo are both responsible for fishing and "import and export" so if there were native vessels I assume this was their work whilst the other tribes would have seen such work as taboo:
I'll need to do some re-reading and properly confirm this but I recall the number of boats fitting with medieval sources that say that when Ali Bey secured support along the Banaadir he was given 20 ships by ports like Xamars. If this was indeed the case, it seems they may have generally maintained a fleet of 20 Dhows, give or take.
In any case, this is interesting stuff as it shows seafaring was apparently known all along the coast during the 1800s and into the first half of the 1900s rather mainly in the north. From the northwest (Isaaq & Cisse), to the northeast (Majeerteen, Warsangeli & Kaptanle) and now Koonfur (assumably Reer Maanyo) with seagoing capabilities that can go to Southern Arabia and the Swahili coast as well as the Persian Gulf and India. Even if some groups like the Cusmaan Maxamuud are said to only apparently start going to somewhere like Zanzibar rather than just Arabia later into the 1800s, this is, I would personally say, far too widespread and developed a seafaring culture to be something that just sprang up around the late 1700s and there are a few classical and medieval accounts of some seafaring off the Somali coast which I'll share in due time either here or elsewhere.
I also found some further sources describing what appear to be Dhows from Koonfur sailing abroad for trade. There's this source that describes a thriving cattle trading industry between the Somali coast and Mauritius in 1860 and how it is "Somali Dhows" sailing between what appears to be Koonfur (Barawe and Xamar) and Mauritius to trade in this:
This is a great source in particular because it appears to extend Somali sailors' reach in the 1800s even south of Zanzibar and basically adjacent to Madagascar and Mozambique:
Post to be continued...
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... post continued
There's also an interesting earlier account from Zanzibar dating to 1811 that mentions Somali traders down there back then. Two in particular from Barawe who were not described to be Cadcads encountered Captain Thomas Smee and gave him a rundown on the goings on of Koonfur at the time:
All the secondary sources I've seen seem to recount them as basically being Somalis (assumably Gibil-Madow) and it seems quite apparent that Tunnis were historically demographically dominant in Barawe so that is likely what they were:
Though moving on from being specifically Koonfur, I also found this account from the mid-1800s by Burton describing native crafts from the Somali coast (sailed by "Hamites") as being among the various foreign boats down at Zanzibar:
And this account from the first decade of the 1900s describing what seems to be the British putting restrictions on Dhows belonging to Somalis at Aden:
But anyway, here are a couple of other random accounts talking about Somalis sailing or working as sailors during the Early Modern era that I managed to see around:
I sadly managed to lose a handful of sources here and there, even, I think, yet another source talking about seafaring at near the start of the 1800s but I got pretty sidetracked and lost my original post with most of these sources overtime. This post was meant to be posted months ago. Collated most of what I collected here. Do feel free to sift through them and find some I didn't post. You'll actually encounter a whole lot of random sources if you google books search things like "Somali Dhow" or "Somali Sambuk" dating from the 1900s and 1800s:
I've mostly restricted myself to 1950 as a time-cap. If you go beyond 1950 you find even more accounts and picture books talking about Somali dhows and sailors.
There's also an interesting earlier account from Zanzibar dating to 1811 that mentions Somali traders down there back then. Two in particular from Barawe who were not described to be Cadcads encountered Captain Thomas Smee and gave him a rundown on the goings on of Koonfur at the time:
All the secondary sources I've seen seem to recount them as basically being Somalis (assumably Gibil-Madow) and it seems quite apparent that Tunnis were historically demographically dominant in Barawe so that is likely what they were:
Though moving on from being specifically Koonfur, I also found this account from the mid-1800s by Burton describing native crafts from the Somali coast (sailed by "Hamites") as being among the various foreign boats down at Zanzibar:
And this account from the first decade of the 1900s describing what seems to be the British putting restrictions on Dhows belonging to Somalis at Aden:
But anyway, here are a couple of other random accounts talking about Somalis sailing or working as sailors during the Early Modern era that I managed to see around:
Shortly after 1810, crews of small Red Sea vessels calling at Jiddah included African
slaves among crews of Somali, Hadhrami, and Yemeni seafarers. - source
slaves among crews of Somali, Hadhrami, and Yemeni seafarers. - source
As for Somali men, another observer noted in the mid-1840s that "they are in general men of indolent habits and earn a precarious subsistence as coolies, servants, cooks, and even sailors, just as the whim seizes them, serving no longer than suits their inclinations in tho3se various employments." - source
I sadly managed to lose a handful of sources here and there, even, I think, yet another source talking about seafaring at near the start of the 1800s but I got pretty sidetracked and lost my original post with most of these sources overtime. This post was meant to be posted months ago. Collated most of what I collected here. Do feel free to sift through them and find some I didn't post. You'll actually encounter a whole lot of random sources if you google books search things like "Somali Dhow" or "Somali Sambuk" dating from the 1900s and 1800s:
I've mostly restricted myself to 1950 as a time-cap. If you go beyond 1950 you find even more accounts and picture books talking about Somali dhows and sailors.
Finally, here's a map of all the locations mentioned in this thread to have been visited by Somalis from 1800 to around 1940:
So everywhere from Massawa & Jeddah in the Red Sea to Dubai & Ras Al Khaimah in the Persian Gulf to Zanzibar and Mauritius down along the Swahili coast to as east as Bombay in India.
So everywhere from Massawa & Jeddah in the Red Sea to Dubai & Ras Al Khaimah in the Persian Gulf to Zanzibar and Mauritius down along the Swahili coast to as east as Bombay in India.
@Al-Ma'mun @The alchemist @Hargeysa @Som @Clllam
Any future posts I do will be more on the smaller fishing boats and accounts, models and images I've seen on those as well as descriptions of them and their size and I'll also try to get into medieval and classical accounts of sailing and fishing along our coast. If I never get around to doing so on this thread I'll inshallah blog about it or make a YouTube video someday. For now I hope exploring this part of our heritage was interesting.
Any future posts I do will be more on the smaller fishing boats and accounts, models and images I've seen on those as well as descriptions of them and their size and I'll also try to get into medieval and classical accounts of sailing and fishing along our coast. If I never get around to doing so on this thread I'll inshallah blog about it or make a YouTube video someday. For now I hope exploring this part of our heritage was interesting.
Hamzza
VIP
List of Somali words related to seafaring and fishing, I collected from different Somali Dictionaries:
1. Barandis. = ropes of the stern pulleys in a boat
2. Baqaal. = large freight show
3. Barrad. = hawser of a sail boat
4. Bayraq. = flag, banner
5. Beden. = a fishing boat
6. Daqal. = the ship's post
7. Deebaan. = sailrope
8. Doon, Doonni = dhaw
9. Faarmaan. = beam of a sail
10. Naakhuude. = captain of the ship
11. Qalammi. = the main mast of a ship
12. Sareedaan. = ship's galley, camboose
13. Serenji. = ship's commanding officer
1. Barandis. = ropes of the stern pulleys in a boat
2. Baqaal. = large freight show
3. Barrad. = hawser of a sail boat
4. Bayraq. = flag, banner
5. Beden. = a fishing boat
6. Daqal. = the ship's post
7. Deebaan. = sailrope
8. Doon, Doonni = dhaw
9. Faarmaan. = beam of a sail
10. Naakhuude. = captain of the ship
11. Qalammi. = the main mast of a ship
12. Sareedaan. = ship's galley, camboose
13. Serenji. = ship's commanding officer
