The earliest reference to the song I've found anywhere, in R. Mounteney Jephson's novel "Tom Bullekeley [sic] of Lissington" (London: Richard Bentley & Son, 1873):

"Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket;
And say a poor buffer lies low:
And six stalwart Lancers shall carry me
With steps mournful, solemn, and slow!"


The song appears in 1882 in Frank B. Kellogg & Thomas G. Shepard's "Yale Songs" unattributed, with the familiar tune:

                        “Tarpaulin Jacket

“Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket,
    And say a poor duffer lies low;
Bid six jolly seamen to carry me
    With steps mournful, measured and slow.

“And then get six jolly foretopmen,
    And let them a-rollicking go,
And drink down a six-gallon measure
    To the health of the duffer below.
                               CHO. Wrap me up, etc.

“And then bring me two white holystones,
    And place them at head and at toe,
Engrave on them this superscription,
    ‘Here lies a poor duffer below.’
                               CHO. Wrap me up, etc.”


In 1883, U.S. Admiral S.B. Luce's "Naval Songs" (N.Y.: Wm. Pond) substitutes this opening stanza but is otherwise essentially the same. The song is attributed to "W.P.B.":

Oh! had I the wings of a turtle-dove, turtle-dove,
So high on my pinions I'd fly,
Slap! bang! into the heart of my Polly love, Polly love,
And in her dear arms I would die.

The full title of the 1884 London sheet music publication is "“Wrap me up in my Tarpaulin Jacket. Words revised by F. Bowyer. Music arranged by E.J. Symons." No mention of Whyte-Melville or Coote.

I still haven't seen that text, but one given in 1887 in "The University of Toronto Song Book" (Toronto: I. Suckling & Sons) may reflect Bowyer's revisions.


A tall stalwart Lancer lay dying,
And as on his deathbed he lay,
To his friends who around him were sighing,
These last dying words he did say.

Chorus.
Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket, jacket,
And say a poor buffer lies low, lies low,
And six stalwart Lancers shall carry me, carry me,
With steps solemn, mournful, and slow.

Had I the wings of a little dove,
Far, far away would I fly,
Straight to the arms of my true love,
There would I lay me and die.
Chorus-- Wrap me up, etc.

Then get you two little white tombstones,
Put them one at my head and my toe,
And get you a pen-knife and scratch there
"Here lies a poor buffer below"
Chorus -- Wrap me up, etc.

And get you six brandies and sodas,
And lay them all out in a row,
And get you six jolly good fellows,
To drink to this buffer below.
Chorus -- Wrap me up, etc.

And then in the calm of the twilight,
When the soft winds whispering blow,
And the darkening shadows are falling,
Sometimes think of this buffer below.
Chorus – Wrap me up, etc.