Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads has copies of this broadside from four different 19th-century printers. The words are remarkably consistent. The main variable is the optional repetition of the word "bowl" at the end of the first line of the chorus.

THE PUNCH LADLE (also known as GIVE ME THE PUNCH LADLE)

Come all you bold heroes; give ear to my song.
I'll sing in the praise of good brandy and rum.
There's a clear crystal fountain near England shall flow.
Give me the punch ladle. I'll fathom the bowl.

CHORUS: I'll fathom the bowl. I'll fathom the bowl (bowl, bowl).
Give me the punch ladle. I'll fathom the bowl.

From France we get brandy. From Jamaica comes rum.
Sweet oranges and lemons from Portugal come.
Strong beer and good cyder o'er England shall flow.
Give me the punch ladle. I'll fathom the bowl.

My wife she comes in when I sit at my ease.
She scolds and she grumbles and does as she please.
She may scold and may grumble till she's black in the face as a coal.
Give me the punch ladle. I'll fathom the bowl.

My father he lies in the depths of the sea,
With the stones at his feet. What matters for he?
There's a clear crystal fountain near him it doth roll.
Give me the punch ladle. I'll fathom the bowl.