Less than a year following the arrival of Jan Van Riebeeck, the first enslaved person arrived at the Cape. He was Abram van Batavia. He arrived in Table Bay on the return fleet from Batavia as a stowaway aboard the Malacca. Abram claimed to have run away from slaveholder Cornelis Lichthart of Batavia.  Abram worked at the Cape in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) until he was sent back to Batavia.