The critic as homophobe?
Fact is, boys of 12 and 13 often served as midshipmen in the English Navy in the early eighteenth century. They were put in the same dangerous circumstances as their elders, and were expected to perform as men. The Captains of such ships must have found themselves adopting the entertwined roles of Father, Commander, and Teacher when dealing with their young charges. One can only hope that the tenderness and humor shown by the character Jack Aubrey was the rule and not the exception. As for Aubrey's love for his friend and their musical duets, anyone who frequents this website should have an appreciation for that kind of interaction.
I believe the filmmakers did a fine job of depicting life aboard a British warship in 1807. Anyone who wants to find a gay thread line in the story would have a picnic with the relationship between Queequeg and Ishmael in Moby Dick and would miss the point just as surely as they miss it here.