| Year | Number of steamers | Number of Sailing vessels | Remarks |
| 1850 | 3 - 5 | 5000 | 1834: 708 sailing ships; 1851: 237,000 GRT, 1437 ships |
| 1888 | First steam tanker of 1666 GRT built. |
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| 1890 | 91 |
| Built in 1889 in UK; best customers for UK shipbuilding were Greeks |
| 1898 | 101 |
| Real adoption of steam; steam required expensive English engineers or well-paid Greek engineers |
| 1901 | 156 | 1154 sailing | Out of 1310 or 12% |
| 1904 | 183 |
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| 1915 | 306 |
| 18 larger than 4000 GRT; 1936 714 sailing ships bought from laid-up after Great War |