# Could I build a house in Antarctica? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 9, 2018, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-build-a-house-in-antarctica/810273 "2018-03-09T00:53:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-build-a-house-in-antarctica/810273/41 "2018-03-12T03:58:42Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > More than that, if you want to be self-reliant (and in decent health), you will have to have a greenhouse. Otherwise, it would not be much different from being on a ship. You cannot live on fish alone. Or penguins and albatrosses. You have to have some sort of vegetable/fruit matter in your diet, to avoid scurvy. It very well may be possible to grow your own food in the 4 months of daylight, and preserving it for later would hardly be a challenge. But once you go that route, your profile becomes much taller. And according to Coleridge, no eating of an albatross! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-build-a-house-in-antarctica/810273/42 "2018-03-12T04:30:09Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > And according to Coleridge, no eating of an albatross! 🙂 He did not **eat** the albatross, he just killed it. The most of the crew of the Endurance subsisted for a while on albatross meat on Elephant Island while Ernie and five others sailed to South Georgia Island to work out a rescue. Everyone from Endurance made it home, so eating albatross is apparently not a road to misfortune. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-build-a-house-in-antarctica/810273/43 "2018-03-12T05:31:29Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > More than that, if you want to be self-reliant (and in decent health), you will have to have a greenhouse. Otherwise, it would not be much different from being on a ship. You cannot live on fish alone. Or penguins and albatrosses. You have to have some sort of vegetable/fruit matter in your diet, to avoid scurvy. Actually you can, if you eat your meat raw or under cooked like Eskimos did. Fresh meat contains enough vitamin C to ward off scurvy. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-build-a-house-in-antarctica/810273/44 "2018-03-12T12:52:31Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > He did not **eat** the albatross, he just killed it. The most of the crew of the Endurance subsisted for a while on albatross meat on Elephant Island while Ernie and five others sailed to South Georgia Island to work out a rescue. Everyone from Endurance made it home, so eating albatross is apparently not a road to misfortune. Do you get wafers with it? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-build-a-house-in-antarctica/810273/45 "2018-03-12T13:52:23Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Do you get wafers with it? 'Course you don’t get bloody wafers with it. _Albatross!_ ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-build-a-house-in-antarctica/810273/46 "2018-03-12T14:53:50Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > He did not **eat** the albatross, he just killed it. The most of the crew of the Endurance subsisted for a while on albatross meat on Elephant Island while Ernie and five others sailed to South Georgia Island to work out a rescue. Everyone from Endurance made it home, so eating albatross is apparently not a road to misfortune. Actually, there are no albatrosses on Elephant Island. The Endurance crew subsisted mostly on penguins and seals while they were there. There are some petrels nesting on cliffs. Shackleton’s party ate albatross chicks when they reached South Georgia. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-build-a-house-in-antarctica/810273/47 "2018-03-12T15:05:08Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > More than that, if you want to be self-reliant (and in decent health), you will have to have a greenhouse. Otherwise, it would not be much different from being on a ship. You cannot live on fish alone. Or penguins and albatrosses. You have to have some sort of vegetable/fruit matter in your diet, to avoid scurvy. It very well may be possible to grow your own food in the 4 months of daylight, and preserving it for later would hardly be a challenge. But once you go that route, your profile becomes much taller. You _could_ build a greenhouse, I suppose. Or, you could deal with scurvy by bringing a bottle of Vitamin C pills. A 350-count bottle of 1000 mg pills would be a 10-year supply. I think Vitamin C would be among the least of your nutritional concerns, if you’re trying to be self-reliant in Antarctica. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-build-a-house-in-antarctica/810273/48 "2018-03-13T00:15:34Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > Let’s say I’m an eccentric millionaire that wants to retire and spend the rest of my days in Antarctica. Would there be any legal obstacles to me doing so? Why are you asking? [Are you trying to get out of a gym membership](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=847364)? :mad: ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-build-a-house-in-antarctica/810273/49 "2018-03-14T06:36:35Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > A 350-count bottle of 1000 mg pills would be a 10-year supply. One every ten days is good enough? I didn’t know that. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-build-a-house-in-antarctica/810273/50 "2018-03-14T15:04:51Z")
You also have to expect you’d be shivering so hard that you’d drop one pill in four, on average. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-build-a-house-in-antarctica/810273/51 "2018-03-16T14:00:16Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > In the Antarctic most structures are erected on concrete plinths built on rock Ah, so you are saying that their building have concrete foundations like in most developed countries, and they wisely choose not to install foundations onto ice or sand or mud ? I think you mean that the true meaning is that they merely create a giant concrete slab over undisturbed rocky ground. Rather than say create a trench and fill it with concrete.Because the trench might be held up by ice, and then if it melts the foundation is cracking. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-build-a-house-in-antarctica/810273/52 "2018-03-16T14:07:47Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > Ah, so you are saying that their building have concrete foundations like in most developed countries, and they wisely choose not to install foundations onto ice or sand or mud ? > > I think you mean that the true meaning is that they merely create a giant concrete slab over undisturbed rocky ground. Rather than say create a trench and fill it with concrete.Because the trench might be held up by ice, and then if it melts the foundation is cracking. Unlike most developed countries, Antarctica has vast fields of ice much thicker than any reasonable foundations would go. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-build-a-house-in-antarctica/810273.md?page=2)