double the point / Floatsam point

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to explain to me the meaning of the expressions in bold in the following brief excerpt from the Jules Verne’s “The Mysterious Island”?The sea was already approaching the chest, and the high tide would
evidently float it. One of the ropes which fastened the barrels was partly unlashed and used as a cable to unite the floating apparatus with the canoe. Pencroft and Neb then dug away the sand with their oars, so as to facilitate the moving of the chest, towing which the boat soon began to double the point, to which the name of Flotsam Point was given.There is an abundant stock-in-trade of different meanings of the term “point” which embarrassed my to make the proper choice.

http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?s=+point&gwp=13

I know the following meanings concerning the term “flotsam”:

1. wreckage or cargo that remains afloat after a ship has sunk.
2. floating refuse or debris.

Thank you for your efforts.

Regards,

V.

[Anglika]

In this passage, they are rowing around a point of land, which has been named "Flotsam Point". The implication of the name is that the currents in the sea bring flotsam and deposits it at around that bit of land.

A "point" in this context is similar to a headland on the coast.