For most of its history, Dominica had a coat of arms that was designed shortly after the island was ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. In those first years of British colonization, Portsmouth had been laid out as the capital of Dominica. The first dock for shipping was constructed at the Cabrits on the site where the Cabrits Cruise Ship Berth now stands. The first coat of arms was simply a painting of sailing ships tied up to this dock with the sun rising behind the nearby mountains and a fort in the distance. It is believed that it was devised by the famous Italian artist resident in Dominica, Agostino Brunias, under the direction of Sir William Young who was then Commissioner of the Sale of Lands in the Ceded Islands, and later the first governor of Dominica.
The motto of the colony appeared on a scroll below the shield and was written in Latin : "Animis opibusque parati", which translates into English as: "Ready with our lives and our resources" or put simply, "Ready for anything". It is also the motto on the coat of arms of the US state of South Carolina. In the 1760s Dominica was a new colony, freshly settled by colonists eager to open up plantations in the virgin forests and the motto was a call to action. It reflected the spirit of the times, but it was still relevant even in the first half of the 20th century, when farmers were trying all sorts of new crops to replace sugar cane.
This coat of arms can still be seen on the brass plaque on the cenotaph or war memorial on Victoria Street in Roseau. The public library also has a wooden plaque with this coat of arms painted on it. It had originally been presented by the colony of Dominica to a British warship, a Colony Class Frigate, active in World War II, called H.M.S. Dominica. The warship was decommissioned and broken up after the war and the plaque was returned to Dominica. When the Dominica Grammar School was founded in 1893 it took a version of the colonial coat of arms as its school crest and this is still in use today.