His final years are murky, though it is known that he gained a provisional pardon. He fell into debt again and possibly alcoholism. By 1839 he was refused a convict servant. Towards the end of 1840 he was caught at his old tricks and charged with forging bills. Brought before the magistrate who had chaperoned his wife, he was again sentenced to transportation. He was imprisoned at Port Arthur where, early in 1842, he died possibly after slitting his own throat. He was buried on the Isle of the Dead just off the coast of the prison. As noted above, posterity has not been altogether kind to his attempts at self-invention.