Hake signed the Waitangi sheet of the Treaty of Waitangi on 5 August 1840 at Russell (later called Ōkiato). He was a rangatira (chief) of the Te Urikapana hapū (subtribe) of Ngāpuhi.
In 1831 Hake and three others sold the Karaka block in Paihia, Bay of Islands, to Reverend Henry Williams on behalf of the Church Missionary Society. They received three blankets, three plane irons, two iron pots, three combs, two hoes, three knives, one spade, two pounds of tobacco, two axes, three pairs of scissors, two adzes and six pipes. In 1836 Hake was one of four who sold the Whakanekeneke block in Hokianga to the missionary George Clarke on behalf of the Church Missionary Society. The price was 30 blankets, £30, 10 spades and a horse.